Eddie Jones spoke with trademark bluster in the build-up to the visit of Italy to Twickenham, bloviating that England would "take them to the cleaners". Things, however, did not quite go to plan, with Italy actually leading at half-time against a bedraggled English team who utterly melted in the face of the brilliant Italian game plan.
Italy did not engage on the ground, meaning a ruck was not formed. As a result, there was no offside line, allowing the Italian players around the fringes to shoot up on their English opponents.
It is relatively easy to counteract: England needed only to pick-and-drive or form a maul to get a bit of go-forward ball. They finally began to do this after half-time, but it is pretty astounding that they were unable to adjust to the game plan on the field.
Dylan Hartley and James Haskell were so puzzled that they actually asked referee Roman Poite to explain the rules to them on the field. Poite shut them down terrifically well, saying that "I'm a referee, not your coach".
Watch the two clips below:
Poite explains the basic ruck law to Dylan Hartley. "You must be in contact with an opponent on their feet." Again he says he is not a coach
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) February 26, 2017
It's incredible that the England captain doesn't know the rules of the game. If you want a better idea as to how this Italian gameplan looked, the Six Nations Youtube account have uploaded the following video:
On RTE, Brent Pope explained how O'Shea's plan worked:
Conor O'Shea demonstrating a "masterclass of coaching" according to Brent Pope #rterugby https://t.co/KXhlDkVFTQ pic.twitter.com/0Wn33uR05x
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) February 26, 2017
It's brilliant by O'Shea, but not entirely original, as O'Gara explained:
Ronan O'Gara giving some examples of teams employing this Italian tactic previously #rterugby https://t.co/KXhlDkVFTQ pic.twitter.com/3wUcA3DIQ3
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) February 26, 2017
Good thinking by O'Shea, and pretty astounding that England could not adjust on the field in the first-half.
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