Italy A (5) 5
Try: Canavosio
England Saxons (0) 31
Tries: Benjamin, penalty, Goode, Strettle Cons: Geraghty, Goode 3 Pen: Geraghty

The Saxons dominated the match in the second half

England Saxons recorded their second win in as many weeks as they overcame a physical Italy A 31-5 in Treviso.

Following last weekend's 17-13 victory over Ireland A, Stuart Lancaster's team found themselves 5-0 down at the break.

But tries from Miles Benjamin, Alex Goode and David Strettle, plus a penalty try, saw them win comfortably.

"It shows the quality and strength in depth of players that didn't have an opportunity last week but came through this week," Lancaster enthused.

The Saxons were lifted by an early penalty in the second half and Strettle raced up the wing, found Phil Dowson on the inside and the number eight sent Benjamin over.

England's hard-working forwards were then rewarded by referee Andrew Macpherson with a penalty try and the Italian defence started to creak in the last quarter.

Goode scored and converted his own try in the 76th minute before adding the extras after Strettle surged clear through the midfield to touch down.

"It was a tough first half," Lancaster admitted. "Italy did very well, they scored a good try and we needed to break them down. We changed in the second half to a more high-tempo game.

"We've worked hard with this group of players. I'm pleased with they way they came back in the second half and the result is through their hard work."

Italy A: P Buso; M Sepe, A Pratichetti, M Pratichetti, S Pace; L Orquera, P Canavosio; F Sbaraglini, T D'Apice, I Rouyet, S Dellape, T Reato, V Bernabo, S Favaro, M Vosawai.
Replacements: D Giazzon (for D'Apice 52), A De Marchi (for Dellape' 60), M Tveraga, S Orlando (for Favaro 40), F Semenzato, A Bacchetti, G Pavan (for Pratichetti 74)

England Saxons: D Cipriani (Wasps); D Strettle (Harlequins), J Clarke (Northampton), B Barritt (Saracens), M Benjamin; S Geraghty (Northampton), M Young (Newcastle); D Flatman (Bath), R Webber (Wasps), P Doran-Jones (Gloucester), G Parling (Leicester), G Skivington (Wasps, captain), C Robshaw (Harlequins), H Fourie (Leeds), P Dowson (Northampton).
Replacements: R Wigglesworth (Sale) for Young (40), Alex Goode (Saracens) for Geraghty (50), T Mercey (Saracens) for Flatman (blood 18-28, 60), T Wood (Worcester) for Fourie (58), D Attwood (Gloucester) for Wood (60), D Waldouck (Wasps), R Vickers (Newcastle) for Webber (76).

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version