England will renew their search for a first win of the Steve Borthwick era when they welcome Italy to Twickenham on week two of the 2023 Six Nations on Sunday.
The home side will be firm favourites to win despite their Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland last weekend, but Italy may fancy their chances of an upset considering how close they came to beating France in their own curtain-raiser.
Match preview
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Finding themselves playing catch-up in week two of the Six Nations is an increasingly-familiar feeling for England, who lost their opening match against bitter rivals Scotland for the third successive year last Saturday.
Borthwick's bow as head coach resulted in England missing out on the Calcutta Cup yet again, as a Duhan van der Merwe brace - including one of the all-time great Six Nations tries - saw Gregor Townsend's side continue their remarkable recent record against the English.
Yet, while that loss has earned its way in the history books as the first time England have ever suffered back-to-back defeats to Scotland at Twickenham, Borthwick will feel that there are positives to build on for his side.
England were booed off on their own patch in their final game under Eddie Jones, but were applauded off despite their defeat last weekend following a more expansive attacking style which was ultimately let down by defensive issues which led to the Scottish tries.
A home tie against Italy provides the best possible opportunity to build on those positives and to get Borthwick's reign up and running at the second time of asking, having beaten the Azzurri in every previous meeting.
Victory at Twickenham is long overdue too - England are now winless in their last three on their own patch and November's triumph against Japan is their only home win in their last six attempts.
Indeed, the home side are in danger of losing three successive Five or Six Nations matches at Twickenham for the first time in more than 50 years should they suffer a shock defeat this weekend.
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Italy may arrive at Rugby HQ feeling that victory would not be such a huge shock after all, despite England being the only nation they have never beaten in the Six Nations.
Such belief would be largely born out of a hugely encouraging display on matchday one which saw them threaten to pull off one of the Championship's greatest-ever upsets by beating France.
Les Bleus ultimately won 29-24 courtesy of Matthieu Jailbert's try, but Italy led heading into the final 20 minutes and also had the chances to win the game at the death, failing to take any points from three late penalties.
While France shot themselves in the foot to a certain extent by conceding 18 penalties, the nature of Italy's brave attacking attitude against a team that has now won 14 games on the bounce will have caused every other nation in the tournament to sit up and take notice.
Indeed, Kieran Crowley's side have every reason to point to their own mistakes being their undoing, having gifted France two tries in the first half while taking risks in their own territory.
If Italy are able to cut out those errors and string together 80 minutes of their best rugby then they look increasingly capable of giving anyone a game, and at least avoiding the Wooden Spoon for the first time since 2015.
The Azzurri travel to London having won three of their last four Tests away from home - the same amount as they won in their previous 31 games on the road - with that run beginning in Cardiff last year as they toppled Wales to end their record run of Six Nations defeats.
Now, Italy could win back-to-back Six Nations away games for the first time ever, and having run France so close, they may fancy their chances of an historic Twickenham triumph against an England side still in transition.
England Six Nations form:
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Italy Six Nations form:
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Team News
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All eyes were on whether Borthwick would stick or twist with the much-questioned Marcus Smith-Owen Farrell axis for this match, and he has chosen to drop Smith to the bench while moving Farrell back to fly-half.
There is an all-new centre partnership outside Farrell as well, with Henry Slade returning from a hip injury to partner Ollie Lawrence in the middle.
Joe Marchant drops out of the 23 entirely, while there is also no place in the squad for England's most-capped player Ben Youngs or Anthony Watson.
The only other change to the starting lineup sees Jack Willis replace Ben Curry in the back row, two years on from suffering a serious knee injury which kept him out for more than 12 months in the same fixture.
There is a return for Henry Arundell amongst the subs, while Alex Mitchell is also named on the bench, but Tom Curry and Courtney Lawes remain unavailable due to injury.
Italy have made two changes to the starting XV from the match against France, with Edoardo Padovani returning on the wing in place of Pierre Bruno.
Padovani famously scored Italy's winning try at the Principality Stadium against Wales in last season's Championship - a try created by full-back Ange Capuozzo, who continues at full-back following his score last weekend.
The other change sees Saracens prop Marco Riccioni come in for Simone Ferrari at tighthead, while Gloucester flanker Jake Polledri is named amongst the replacements and could make his first international appearance since November 2020 following a lengthy spell out through injury.
Tommaso Allan continues at fly-half with Paolo Garbisi still unavailable.
England starting lineup:
15. Freddie Steward, 14. Max Malins, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ollie Lawrence, 11. Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10. Owen Farrell, 9. Jack van Poortvliet; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Ollie Chessum, 5. Maro Itoje, 6. Lewis Ludlam, 7. Jack Willis, 8. Alex Dombrandt
Replacements: 16. Jack Walker, 17. Mako Vunipola, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Nick Isiekwe, 20. Ben Earl, 21. Alex Mitchell, 22. Marcus Smith, 23. Henry Arundell
Italy starting lineup:
15. Ange Capuozzo, 14. Edoardo Padovani, 13. Juan Ignacio Brex, 12. Luca Morisi, 11. Tommaso Menoncello, 10. Tommaso Allan, 9. Stephen Varney; 1. Danilo Fischetti, 2. Giacomo Nicotera, 3. Marco Riccioni, 4. Niccolo Cannone, 5. Federico Ruzza, 6. Sebastian Negri, 7. Michele Lamaro (c), 8. Lorenzo Cannone
Replacements: 16. Luca Bigi, 17. Federico Zani, 18. Simone Ferrari, 19. Edoardo Iachizzi, 20. Jake Polledri, 21. Manuel Zuliani, 22. Alessandro Fusco, 23. Pierre Bruno
Head To Head
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The history of this fixture has been utterly one-sided, with England running out winners in all of the previous 29 meetings between the sides in all competitions, averaging more than 40 points per game.
Indeed, England lived up to that average on Italy's last visit to Twickenham as the home side recorded a 41-18 victory in 2021, followed by a 33-0 triumph in Rome last year.
It is 10 years since Italy even got to within single figures of England at full time of a match between the two, losing by eight points in 2013.
We say: England 32-20 Italy
Italy may never have gone into a match against England with such high hopes of pulling off their first-ever victory, and if they repeat the performance they produced against France last weekend then there is every chance they could snap that 29-game losing streak.
Even so, Italy at home does still remain the easiest match on paper in the Six Nations and anything other than victory for England will raise serious questions in only Borthwick's second match in charge.
It is a very real potential banana skin for England - almost a no-win scenario for them unless they blow Italy away - but we are backing the hosts to pick up a victory.
Barney Corkhill
