Borthwick’s gone absolutely mental with the changes. It’s like he’s playing FIFA and just hit ‘randomise’ on the backline.”
But to be fair, after that Ireland showing, something had to give. Fin Smith starting at 10 is the big one—finally seeing what the lad can do without Ford looking over his shoulder. And Ben Earl’s 50th? Bloke’s been carrying the pack on his back for two years, he deserves a proper shift in Rome.”
The Italians aren’t exactly pushovers anymore, though. Brex is back in the centre, and that Olimpico crowd will be feral. If we don’t click in the first twenty, it’s going to be a long afternoon of ‘Azzurri’ chants and expensive Peroni.
Tell you what, if Italy are ever going to break the 32-game curse, it’s against an England side this experimental. But I reckon we’ll scrape by.
My “Pub” Prediction: England to weather an early Italian storm and scrape a 24–19 victory, likely decided by the bench in the final ten minutes.