We’re ready for Croker, says Wilko

JONNY WILKINSON insists England will “go with confidence” to Dublin for the pivotal game of their RBS Six Nations campaign — despite a near-botched Italian job.

Although England preserved a 100% record against Italy in 13 Tests, it was their smallest margin of victory over the Azzurri since a similarly uninspired World Cup qualification success at Huddersfield more than eight years ago. England proved a poor imitation of the side that smashed Scotland seven days previously.

The only common theme was Wilkinson breaking another record.

He followed his Calcutta Cup exploits — an individual-best 27 points — by booting five penalties to overtake former Wales star Neil Jenkins as the highest scorer in championship history. But the sight of Wilkinson still kicking for goal with less than 30 seconds of normal time remaining graphically illustrated England’s prolonged struggle to see off an Italy side whose work-rate and appetite for the battle knew no limits.

England, 14 points clear at the interval, “lost” a fiercely attritional second-half 7-6 as Italy conjured a memorable try, scored and converted by fly-half Andrea Scanavacca.

Whereas an ineffective Scotland back-row granted Wilkinson and company the freedom of Twickenham, Italy’s breakaway trio — supremely marshalled by a mighty display from New Zealand-born blindside flanker Josh Sole — tirelessly cut down England’s space, options and territory.

Pre-tournament favourites Ireland, one would imagine, will hardly lose sleep when they review an England performance full of honest toil, but equally littered by poor tactical kicking, painfully slow ball and attacking indecision.

Even Wilkinson, a renowned master at putting his team in the right places, admitted to a degree of frustration.

He said: “When you are not on the front foot, teams are able to put three players back in the kicking positions, which takes out your kicking option to turn people, and it means the opposition defence are in the starting blocks ready to come at you and hit you hard.

“We found life a little bit harder in the set-piece, and our organisation in the back-line, myself very much included in that, needs a lot of work.

“These experiences, these games are things to learn from massively.

“We have to look at the game and discover why it didn’t go perfectly, but I would rather find that out now than, say, two games before a World Cup kicks in.”

England have not beaten Ireland since the 2003 Grand Slam showdown at Lansdowne Road and, unless dramatic improvements are shown on Saturday week, it is a sequence likely to continue.