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England beat Italy convincingly to begin their Six Nations campaign with a bang One cloud
on the match was a gruesome-looking knee injury to Ben Youngs The scrum-half will find
out if his Six Nations is over following scans on Monday Eddie Jones is resigned to fact that
Youngs will miss the Wales match next week A gruesome-looking knee injury to Ben
Youngs clouded an emphatic English victory in Rome – the scrum-half will find out whether
his NatWest Six Nations is over on Monday.
The 28-year-old was heard yelping in pain, when his leg was trapped in the 10th minute,
and after a lengthy delay had to be taken off on a motorised stretcher.
England head coach Eddie Jones is resigned to the fact that Youngs will miss the Wales
match next weekend; he is likely to send out the signal to summon Saracens 34-year-old
Richard Wigglesworth into the squad. 'Ben will have an examination today so we'll know
more after that,' he said.
'He's unlikely to be available for the Wales game. It's too early to make any sort of prediction
but I'm always optimistic.
'(A replacement is) on the Batphone mate. All ready to come, we've just got to get the
Batmobile out of the cave and then they'll be here.' Youngs equalled Matt Dawson's
England record for the most starts at scrum-half on Sunday, but scans on Monday may well
confirm he will miss the rest of the championship if England's worst fears are realised.
Him exiting early meant a 70-minute run-out for Danny Care – England's most experienced
substitute – he will now be tasked with seizing the No 9 shirt for good.
On Youngs' injury, Leicester team-mate and England fly-half George Ford said: 'We are
hoping for the best. You never like to see one of your team-mates go off injured, so fingers
crossed.' Away from the physiotherapist's table the day belonged to Sam Simmonds. The
23-year-old Exeter Chiefs No 8 shone spectacularly in the Eternal City.
Aside from two wonderful, quick bursts for tries and a stupendous no-look pass to Jack
Nowell for his score he made 23 tackles, carried the ball 14 times making 80 metres and
beat six defenders.
A few months ago Jones hinted that he saw Simmonds as more of an openside flanker, as
he lacked the bulk of Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes – his usual No 8s.
But he was happy to have been proved wrong and hailed his new star, likening him to a
World Cup-winning All Black.
'He's a good, young lad with a great set of skills,' he said.
'Life's full of contradictions and he's one of them. He's a different sort of number eight. He's
like Victor Vito - fast and elusive.
'If he was a cricketer he'd be playing Twenty20. He's a bit different - he's fast and runs good
lines. He's a completely humble boy who just gets on with it. 'He's fitted into the team well.
He's different from Billy and Nathan and sometimes it takes sides a bit of time to adjust to
that, but our adjustment was good.'
Anthony Watson also scored twice, with Ford and Owen Farrell taking England's try-tally to
seven.
Watson in particular showed searing pace for his finishes, and Jones was impressed with
his rapid winger.
'He got the Maserati out of the car park today,' he added.
'You look at him and Jonny May on the wing, we've got close to probably the quickest
wingers in the world, they're only going to get quicker.'
Jones was also delighted with England's dominant set piece in Rome.
'That was massively positive,' he said.
'I was really pleased with the effort today. Italy were always going to be difficult to play.
There was a big crowd in Rome, the sun was shining and everyone was enjoying
themselves and were excited. We had to hang in there and do the simple things well.
'Our scrum and line-out was absolutely first class. I don't think we've scrummed as well as
that in the time I've been in charge of England. 'We were completely dominant and that's
English rugby.
'When the game broke up at the end we were able to score tries. There was some lovely
ball movement.