Six Nations: Sam Simmonds shines but England's defence is a problem ahead of Wales clash

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  • Exeter and England's Sam Simmonds.

    England’s search for a Six Nations hat-trick started on a predictably winning note as they eased to a 46-15 victory over Italy, but the Welsh know they have several weaknesses to probe at Twickenham on Saturday.

    Below are the four key takeaways from the Stadio Olimpico …

    NO SCARE WITH CARE

    Knees aren’t supposed to bend that way. A stray body at the base of a ruck ended Ben Youngs’ game prematurely and, it has to be feared, his entire Six Nations campaign. Luckily England have a ‘finisher’ who many argue should be the starter at scrum-half in Danny Care.

    In 23 Tests under Eddie Jones, Care has emerged from the bench 17 times – not quite Jamie George levels, but enough to frustrate the Harlequin all the same.

    After coming on in the 10th minute this was as a good as a start and he sparked the move that led to Owen Farrell’s try, while his box kicks – a much-improved attribute – looked sharp and he’s always been ultra-dangerous around the fringes.

    The question is, who is England’s third-string scrum-half? Youngs and Care have been Jones’ scrum-halves for all but three minutes under his watch.

    Premature end: Ben Youngs suffered a nasty looking injury.

    Premature end: Ben Youngs suffered a nasty looking injury.

    FLIMSY DEFENCE

    The stats will tell you England’s defence was solid enough – making 149 out of 163 tackle attempts at a success rate of 91 per cent. But a fair slab of those tackles were made as Italy made great in-roads after stretching a rush defence that was simply not firing on all cylinders.

    The likes of Chris Robshaw and Maro Itoje struggled to slow the ball down enough for it to work effectively and Italy, with a new-found verve under head coach Conor O’Shea, were accurate enough to take advantage of this in fits and starts.

    It’s difficult to imagine England won’t bring more energy against Wales at Twickenham next week but they are likely to be troubled out wide by the jet-heeled Steff Evans and Josh Adams.

    A NEW No8 GREAT?

    Okay, it’s not quite the time to anoint Sam Simmonds as England’s new hero, but he brings an intriguing skillset different to that of hulking No8 monsters Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes.

    The Exeter Chiefs back-rower is more than 20kg lighter than Vunipola and Hughes – you’d rather he run into you than that duo. But if you can’t hang onto him he’s past you in a flash.

    The streamlined Simmonds showed brilliant burst to finish off both of his tries and when Vunipola is back, it’ll be interesting to see whether Jones trusts him enough to play him as a flanker – namely to do all the necessary dirty work – to be that speed complement as a ball-carrier.

    GROUNDHOG DAY

    O’Shea has clearly moved Italy’s attacking game up a notch – it’s not just stick-it-up-your-jumper, Sergio Parisse smashball anymore. Parisse was given a helping hand by Seb Negri in the carries department – the blindside flanker was playing in the third tier of English rugby a year ago – but there was some genuine invention too.

    Tommaso Allan’s final pass for Tommaso Benvenuti’s opener for Italy was inch-perfect, relegating Jonny May to a spectator on the wing.

    There were further promising moments in the broken field, too, but what good is that for Italy if they’ve blown their gasket at the hour-mark? Three tries in nine minutes gave the England scoreline an undeserved sheen yet we’ve been here so many times before with the Azzurri.

    Last year? 17-15 to England until the last 10. 36-15 at the final whistle.In 2016? 11-9 to England at half-time. 40-9 at full-time. O’Shea won’t do anything until Italy develop depth, and it’s not an overnight fix.

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