Parisse backs O’Shea project for Italy

In failing to engage following a tackle, no ruck was formed and, as such, no offside line was created.

“Similar rules today. congratulations to Italy, strategically it was smart, so well done to them”.

Visiting head coach Conor O’Shea defended his side’s tactics afterwards, but Jones was left far from impressed.

“Imagine the shambles at all the rugby clubs around the world next weekend!”

There is nothing rotten about Eddie Jones England squad but there is plenty wrong with Italy who, when they played Ireland in Rome a fortnight ago, were humiliated 63-10. Let’s give the players hope that we’re going with a gameplan and say we’re going to have a go and have a crack off scrums.

Following the match, Jones was less than classy in his interview with ITV Sport. “They have got to carry around the burden of Scotland’s expectation for the next two weeks”. “It is a roll of the dice in many ways”.

“There’s an obvious weakness in that you can pull out of the tackle and put no one else in, but it’s hard to avoid them pulling you in. Switch to an off-loading game and when you do finally go to ground, drag in as many Italian defenders as you can to prevent them standing off and denying you the ruck you want”, he wrote.

“We knew Italy would come here with a different game plan but we didn’t necessarily expect it to be that – I don’t think anyone in the stadium did”, Haskell said. “Thinking differently, you can actually change the status quo”. “It is another defensive strategy, but it is easy enough to counter if you have some nous”.

Afterwards the two coaches picked each other’s brains, and Conte said: “Eddie is a victor and he is transferring that mentality onto the team”.

Hartley repeatedly asked for clarification from referee Romain Poite over what he would allow at the ruck, only for the French official to reply “I am not a coach”.

“I understand what Italy did and I’m not angry with what they did, I just don’t think it’s rugby”.

England’s World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward was also an enthusiastic supporter of what he described as “guerrilla warfare” and said Italy should be applauded. Whether their tactics of not competing at all at the breakdown is the way rugby is supposed to be played was the talk of the press conferences after the game, but the reality was that it unsettled England and added a new talking point to a tournament that is never lacking in subtext.

Reported by Wales Online, Owens was speaking on Brian Moore’s Full Contact Podcast on the Daily Telegraph website and was more than a little surprised at how unprepared England were.

O’Shea insisted that everything that the Italians used to negate the English threat was within the rules and that it was not up to them to play to their opponents liking.

“Tom Wood has been great for us at seven and Jack Clifford did well against Wales but James Haskell has the starting role on Sunday”.