Flutey’s Return Gives England Huge Boost

Martin Johnson’s England are aiming to preserve their 100 per cent record against Italy when the two sides clash at the Stadio Flaminio on Sunday.

England have won all of the 15 meeting between the two sides and this is a run that England will be hoping to continue in order to keep their Grand Slam and Six Nations dream on course.

Return

Riki Flutey has been handed an immediate return to the England side as there are changes to the side that beat Wales 30-17 at Twickenham. The Brive Centre missed the whole of England’s Autumn campaign, but Jonny Wilkinson believes that the two will create a relationship that help England become are a stronger side

“He is very, very vocal and he cares about every tiny detail. He likes to get loose and play as well.

Flutey will give England a more direct and dynamic approach and will give Mathew Tait more opportunities to run.

Loss

Italy’s loss of Carlo Del Fava is a void that needs filling. His  presence alongside Quintin Geldenhuys made sure not to give Paul O’Connell and Leo Cullen an easy job but injury has hit. So former captain and Gloucester’s Marco Bortolami, comes in but the lock has looked low on confidence and missing some of his fight

Gonzalo Garcia the Italian centre believes the Azzurri are ready to battle it out with Martin Johnson’s

“We know we will face a very strong side, an extremely physical one.

“It will be a hard battle but we will go out to win as we always do.”

Previous results:

2009: England won 36-11 at Twickenham
2008: England won 23-19 in Rome
2007: England won 20-7 at Twickenham
2006: England won 31-16 in Rome
2005: England won 39-7 at Twickenham
2004: England won 50-9 in Rome
2003: England won 40-5 at Twickenham
2002: England won 45-9 in Rome
2001: England won 80-23 at Twickenham
2000: England won 59-12 in Rome

Line ups

England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 1 Tim Payne, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Steve Borthwick (captain), 6 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Nick Easter.
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Matthew Mullan, 19 Louis Deacon, 20 Steffon Armitage, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Toby Flood

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Valerio Bernabo, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Kaine Robertson

Flutey to return in Rome

Riki Flutey will return from injury at centre as England look to make it two wins out of two in the Six Nations on Sunday. Read more

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England face Ireland while the Scots take on Italy

This weekend sees grand-slam chasing Ireland take on England at Croke Park, and Scotland hosting the Italians at Murrayfield.

Ireland are looking to avenge their humiliating defeat at Twickenham last year by trying to emulate their famous victory over the English at Croke Park in 2007.

That time Ireland thumped England 43-13, in an emotionally charged atmosphere.

“Two years ago we had a record win over England but that was a real one-off,” said Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll. 

Ireland will want to continue their good run, after defeating France on the opening day of the championship and beating Italy in Rome two weeks ago.

Declan Kidney, the Irish coach, has named an unchanged squad to face England on Saturday.

Ulsterman, Paddy Wallace has been given the thumps up after suffering from a head injury against France, which needed 16 stitches over his left eye.

England will be desperate to get their campaign back on track after being soundly beaten by champions Wales 23-15, two weeks ago.

Toby Flood is England’s only change. He gets the number 10 shirt, replacing Andy Goode, who drops to the bench.

England coach, Martin Johnson, said “he has played pretty well coming off the bench, so we think it’s a great opportunity for him to come in and start.”

Danny Cipriani, the young fly half talked up as the next Johnny Wilkinson, has failed to impress while wearing the England shirt and is again left out of Martin Johnson’s squad, despite having a good run of domestic form for Wasps.

The Scotland-Italy match has been marked down as the wooden spoon decider, but the with their nations pride at stake, expect to see 80 minutes of raw passion on show.

Scotland coach, Frank Hadden, has made two changes to his squad, with both Euan Murray and Alastair Kellock coming in.

“We are delighted to recall Euan Murray and bring someone as experienced as Al Kellock in to replace Jim Hamilton,” said Hadden.

 The Italians themselves have also made changes to the side that lost to Ireland two weeks ago.

Andrea Marcato and Marco Bortolami return from injury to join the Azzuri along with Leonardo Ghiraldini and Gonzalo Garcia.

This will be an extremely important weekend for all the teams and should prove to be a great spectacle of rugby.