Six Nations 2026: England’s away-day blues – could they finally lose to Italy?

England entered spherical two on a run of 12 successive wins and but the setbacks in opposition to Ireland and Scotland have been of a workforce immediately not sure of their identification.

Chaotic begins. Scrambled gameplans. Individual errors.

The suggestion that England kick an excessive amount of is synonymous with Borthwick’s three-12 months reign though transferring away from a kick-primarily based technique has had opposed penalties in latest weeks.

According to Opta information, England ranked second backside for kicks in play (44) and backside for kick meters (1,025m) throughout the previous two rounds and suffered convincing defeats in each.

An assault that was solely outscored by South Africa final 12 months has malfunctioned, conceding 16 turnovers at essential occasions within the opposition 22, together with 32 turnovers due to unforced errors.

But maybe the most important failings on England’s rap sheet have been these of a ragged defence.

Borthwick’s males have conceded 24 line-breaks to this point, with 58% of these coming within the 10m channels. An unmatched 30% of their 74 missed tackles have additionally come out broad.

The secret is out – to beat England, play quick and play with width, a blueprint that Monye believes Italy are able to replicating.

“Italy have the opportunity to threaten England, because it would seem that against teams that love to play wide England, at the moment, don’t have an antidote against that,” he mentioned.

“Italy have really developed and the teams that like to express themselves and play a wide game can really get after England.”