The reason behind each of England’s nine changes to face Italy ...Middle East

Head coach Steve Borthwick made England’s biggest ever selection shake-up for a Six Nations match, after the hammerings by Scotland and Ireland.

Borthwick, who made nine changes, cited a lack of “intensity”, and a dip below “the required standards that we have set over a long period time and a lot of Test matches – in a lot of areas [including] the willingness to throw that pass and take our chances, to play at the speed we want to push”.

Add in three positional changes, and only the forwards Maro Itoje, Ellis Genge and Joe Heyes will wear the same jersey number in Rome that they donned against the Irish 10 days ago.

Here we run through the changes, one by one…

Seb Atkinson (12) in, Fraser Dingwall out

Borthwick said on Tuesday that Atkinson would have started for England in the autumn if it hadn’t been for injury, as the 23-year-old Gloucester centre was so impressive on the tour of the Americas last summer.

Now the 6ft 2in Atkinson belatedly offers his radically different physical presence to Dingwall on the gainline, with an ability to take contact and offload, which should help England improve their finishing in the opposition 22, and deal with the highly-rated Italy centres Tommaso Menoncello and Ignacio Brex. A lot to ask for Atkinson in his third cap.

Fin Smith (10) in, George Ford out

As Borthwick pointed out, Smith has been running this England line-up of backs, more or less, for the last five weeks – in training, that is. Now the Northampton Saint will do it for real, in Rome, against opponents England have never failed to beat in 32 Test meetings.

The pressure and circumstances won’t faze this calm distributor and banging defender, and while it may be just plain wrong to see the No 10 jersey as the preserve of just one man, this match and the subsequent visit to France is a great chance for Smith to frame George Ford as yesterday’s hero.

Elliot Daly (15) in, Freddie Steward out

Atkinson’s presence allows Daly to be a possible second playmaker, giving England width and pace and passing ability on transition or in formal phase play, and Freddie Steward’s USP of strength in the air has lost its lustre of late.

Furthermore, and at the risk of getting carried away, imagine an even more enticing scenario of Atkinson being England’s version of Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu – a wrecking ball and footballer in one – making for multiple playmakers. Maybe.

Tom Roebuck (14) in, Ollie Lawrence out

Outside centre Ollie Lawrence is injured, so Tommy Freeman moves from wing to No 13. Meanwhile Roebuck’s fitness has been a bother for Borthwick as the Sale Sharks wing was first deemed not ready to face Wales last month, then he came in when the influential Manny Feyi-Waboso dropped out. Then Roebuck was dropped after a shaky display in Scotland.

Now Roebuck enables England to persist with kicks to retrieve – although they strayed away from them against Ireland.

Cadan Murley (11) in, Henry Arundell out

Murley had a nightmare debut in the tough environs of Ireland last season but he is a rapid and reliable finisher, he loves getting stuck in at the breakdown, and his defence is better than Arundell’s.

Ben Spencer (9) in, Alex Mitchell out

Bath’s box-kicking expert Spencer started against Argentina in November, and gets the nod over the rangier Jack van Poortvliet and Raffi Quirke to replace the injured regular pick, Mitchell.

Jamie George (2) in, Luke Cowan-Dickie to the bench

Cowan-Dickie’s line-out throwing was calamitous against Ireland, so George is relied on here for a solid start.

Alex Coles (5) in, Ollie Chessum to the bench

Borthwick said Chessum was under consideration to play at six, and either way the Leicester man can keep the energy up if Maro Itoje does not play the full 80 minutes.

Guy Pepper (6) in, Henry Pollock to the bench

Pepper of Bath is back from his first taste of being dropped, against Ireland, when his power and relish for contact was badly missed.

The livewire Pollock reverts to substitute status where he can offer a big impact.

Oh, and three number changes

squareHUGH GODWIN

Steve Borthwick's England reign risks becoming a lot of hot air

Ben Earl wears No 8 instead of No 7 for his 50th cap this week, although it is moot as the Saracens man was at the base of the scrum against Ireland; Tom Curry wears No 7 instead of six this time, and Freeman as mentioned above has shifted again from 14 to 13.

Only the front row and second row among the sub-units in the England team have ever started a Test together: it’s a first international run-out for the half-backs, the centres, the back three and the back row.

Smith and Atkinson at 10 and 12 came through at Worcester together and have combined for England’s under-20s.

England XV and replacements to face Italy

Starting XV

Replacements:

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