Six Nations 2026: Blues away – could they finally lose to Italy?

England entered the second round on the back of a run of 12 straight wins, yet setbacks to Ireland and Scotland were for a team suddenly unsure of its identity.

Chaos begins. Blended game plans. Individual errors.

The suggestion that England kick too much is synonymous with Borthwick’s three-year reign, although the move away from a penalty-based strategy has had negative consequences in recent weeks.

According to Opta data, England have finished second in terms of kicks in play (44) and bottom in terms of kick meters (1,025 metres) over the past two rounds and have suffered convincing defeats in both.

The attack, which South Africa did not excel at until last year, failed, as it conceded 16 conversions at crucial times for the opponent (22), in addition to 32 conversions due to unforced errors.

But perhaps the biggest failings in the England squad are those related to the sloppy defence.

Borthwick’s men have conceded 24 lineouts so far, 58% of which have come in 10-metre channels. Also, 30% of the total 74 missed tackles came outside the goal range.

The secret has been revealed: to beat England, to play fast and to play wide, is a scheme that Mooney believes Italy can emulate.

He said: “Italy has the opportunity to threaten England, because it seems that against teams that like to play wide in England, at the moment, they do not have an antidote to that.”

“Italy has really developed and teams that like to express themselves and play a wide-ranging game can really catch up with England.”