England braced for physical test

England assistant coach John Wells has no doubt Italy will look to “knock our blocks off” when the World Cup finalists face a testing RBS 6 Nations mission on Sunday.

England will arrive at the Stadio Flaminio still hurting from their Twickenham horror show against Wales seven days ago.

That 26-19 defeat – and injuries to five key players – has left England in a state of disarray.

And matters could be compounded if captain Phil Vickery fails to recover in time from a calf muscle injury suffered during training.

If Vickery misses out – a decision is likely later on Saturday – then Bath’s Matt Stevens will deputise at tighthead prop with his club colleague Steve Borthwick, not Jonny Wilkinson, probably taking over as skipper.

England’s four previous Six Nations trips to Rome have harvested 185 points and a 100% winning record, but the Azzurri will fancy their chances of halting that sequence, especially as their opponents have lost Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Andrew Sheridan, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees.

Wells said: “I think Italy went through the Six Nations last year and gave everybody a hard time to some degree or another.

“They made it very difficult for England to do anything other than scrape a victory at Twickenham.

“There is a massive amount of experience in the Italian side, and part of the challenge is playing against mentally and physically tough opposition, on their own pitch, who are going to want to knock our blocks off.

“Italy come from a scrummaging, driving, mauling, brawling background, and we know we are going to a place where it is becoming harder and harder to get wins.

“There is no point going there with our heads down. We need a really positive environment and a positive vibe from within.”

Key to England’s victory bid could be how they use juggernaut wing Lesley Vainikolo.

The former Bradford Bulls rugby league star was chronically under-used against Wales, and it is vital England utilise his power and pace at every given opportunity.

England defence coach Mike Ford added: “I am really looking forward to seeing him pop up here, there and everywhere. We are going there with a very positive attitude.”

If England are to have any chance of resurrecting their Six Nations campaign - and a possible title bid – there can be no hangover from the pain inflicted by Wales.

Head coach Brian Ashton said: “The players have worked very hard this week. There has been a good level of execution and accuracy in training.

“You can’t hide away from what happened last weekend, and when it does happen, 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, Ashton hopes England can take another step down the evolutionary 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, which is something I envisaged happening possibly a little bit further down the line.

“We are actually now in it, and it’s pretty exciting.

“I think the players are in the same frame of mind as me. They see the excitement coming into the team, some of the young players and some who are not so young, and it does add to the general excitement about what this team might be capable of.”