Ashton hoping luck changes for Italian job

BRIAN ASHTON insists England are ready for their Italian job tomorrow — and he is confident it will not be a botched mission.

The World Cup finalists, quite simply, have endured a week from hell.

Beaten at home by Wales one minute, then deprived of five players — Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Andrew Sheridan, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees — through injury or illness, Ashton could hardly have worse luck.

The casualty count could yet increase, with captain Phil Vickery battling to overcome a calf muscle injury.

If Vickery is ruled out, then Matt Stevens will deputise at tighthead prop, with uncapped Bristol forward Jason Hobson joining the replacements.

History heavily favours England against Italy.

On four previous visits, they have registered 185 points in maintaining a 100% record, which is seven points more than during a quartet of Twickenham Six Nations wins at the Azzurri’s expense.

And if England are to have any chance of resurrecting their RBS 6 Nations campaign, there can be no hangover from the pain inflicted by Wales.

Ashton said: “We are going into the game in a very positive frame of mind.

“The players have worked very hard this week.

“You can’t hide away from what happened, you have to address it.

“I wasn’t happy at all with the last 20 minutes against Wales. We addressed it on Monday, and I am very confident that, God forbid, if we were in that situation again, the outcome would be slightly different.”

And despite the crushing Wales setback, head coach Ashton hopes England can take another step down the evolution route towards playing a more complete brand of rugby.

He added: “The general mood in the camp is one of we’ve set our stall out, we’ve all bought into this.

“What we don’t want now is any black sheep, either on the playing side or management side, saying ‘hang on a minute, this is far too dangerous and risky.’

“We are probably now in a transition phase with some of the younger players coming into the side, and it’s pretty exciting.”

Italy, as always, will look to rumble England up front, where Martin Castrogiovanni has, on paper, a clear edge at scrum-time over Sheridan’s replacement Tim Payne.

And if England don’t establish a solid set-piece platform, then there is little hope of a volcanic eruption in the considerable shape of Lesley Vainikolo happening among the backs.

Vainikolo was woefully neglected during the Wales game, and England must use their juggernaut wing to blast open the opposition.

Ashton said: “I suspect Lesley Vainikolo will be pretty keen to start wandering around the field a little bit and getting himself involved.

“With a guy like that on the field, with two or three opportunities to get the ball to him (last Saturday), we would have made more of it.

“But that was part of the general malaise during the second half of the second-half performance.

“We know Italy are no mugs in the front-five. That’s where the contest, conceivably, could be won or lost.

“Italy probably think they are favourites going into this game after what happened last weekend.

“They are always a tough nut to crack at Stadio Flaminio.”

That said, England should be too strong, despite an alarming injury list.

Anything other than a win though and the fall-out could prove considerable.