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4 hours ago
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Jamie George is braced for England’s “toughest ever” Test against Italy but believes Saturday’s Six Nations clash can be the defining moment for a much-maligned squad.
George also admitted England’s Six Nations collapse, which has ruled them out of contention for the title for another year, has been down to a lack of “hard work” and “fight”, insisting the players owe it to supporters and Steve Borthwick to make amends in Rome.
The 35-year-old hooker has replaced Luke Cowan-Dickie in the starting lineup to face the Azzurri, one of 12 changes – nine personnel and three positional – by Borthwick.
England have won all 32 previous matches against Italy, but Gonzalo Quesada’s side began their campaign with victory over Scotland and have been backed by the South Africa coach, Rassie Erasmus, to shock England.
“Ultimately, what we haven’t seen enough of in the last couple of weeks is spirit, fight, hard work and graft,” said George. “Let’s be completely honest, over the last 12 months you would characterise this team by that.
“We need to be really clear on how we get back there, why it hasn’t been there, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. We are going to need it in bucketloads going over to Rome. Rome is always a difficult place to play but with this Italian team looking the way they do, it’s going to be the toughest Test that England have ever had against Italy. But bring it on.
“Times like these, and I would rather not have them obviously, but they are genuinely the most enjoyable times to be part of a team. You learn a huge amount about people. It’s an opportunity to step up, it’s an opportunity to bring people with you. It can be a defining moment for a team moving forward, and I think it will be.
“We owe it to everyone. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the England fans, we owe it to Steve and every single member of staff in the group because we are lucky and privileged enough to represent the whole country. We owe it to absolutely everyone.”
Along with Ellis Genge, George is one of two vice-captains supporting Maro Itoje in Rome, with the other, George Ford, omitted from the squad. Last week, Borthwick invited nine of England’s 2003 World Cup winners to have dinner with his squad and George was left in no doubt as to the importance of the senior leadership group when backs are against the wall.
“There was so much to take away,” he said. “What they spoke about a lot was the togetherness and how tight the senior player group was. Their leaders in their team showed the way, set the standards and showed what was expected 24/7. It’s a nice little reminder for us, especially off the back of two losses, that we are doubling down on senior players stepping up.”
George also pinpointed England’s sluggish starts as a key reason for their campaign being blown off course in such spectacular fashion. Against Scotland, they were 17-0 down after 15 minutes while Ireland had marched into a 22-0 lead with just half an hour on the clock.
“What we haven’t done over the last couple of weeks is start well,” he said. “And then our reaction to that has been poor. Actually, we looked a little bit shellshocked, a little bit isolated, this shouldn’t be happening.”
