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Ben Youngs says England prepared for unusual tactics from Italy

Written by on 04/03/2019

Ben Youngs believes England are prepared for whatever Italy throw at them on Saturday.

England resume their Six Nations campaign against Italy at Twickenham, where the Azzurri threatened a shock victory two years ago having employed an extraordinary tactic.

Italy, who led 10-5 at half-time against an England side who had won their previous nine Six Nations fixtures, had not committed men to breakdowns beyond the initial tackler and therefore avoided the formation of rucks and made offside irrelevant.

World Rugby introduced law changes five months later that meant the approach cannot be repeated, but England coach Eddie Jones has reminded his players of the likelihood they may still need to adapt to something new.

Youngs, who is in contention to start on Saturday when two years ago he was a replacement, said: “We were the first to come up against that sort of strategy through the whole game. I remember watching and realising there was not an actual lot you could do.

“They made a semi-circle around you, you’ve got nowhere to pass and if you pick and go, you’re back to where you started.

“It was bizarre. You just had to try and create a tackle. If you did manage to create a tackle and got quick ball, then they were all offside so it could change in a blink. It was certainly tactically different and smart by them.”

Asked if England were expecting something similar, the scrum-half said: “Definitely. One of the things that was discussed was making sure we’ve got huge adaptability because they’ve got a huge amount of things they could do.

“So it is something we already discussed, and with coaches like Conor (O’Shea) and (Mike Catt) Catty they’ve got coaches not afraid to try different things.

“(Adaptability is) a focus every week. Eddie always tries to put us under pressure.

“The biggest thing this week is probably making sure we learn from the (loss to Wales). It’s not like we need to become unbelievably adaptable because I feel we are able to do that anyway.”

Defeat by Wales in Cardiff ended England’s Grand Slam hopes and their fate in this competition is largely beyond their control.

But with Wales facing defending champions Ireland in the final round of fixtures, when they will be far from guaranteed victory, meaning Jones’ team could yet end up as champions.

“After a loss, you want to get straight back out there and play again,” Youngs added. “If we don’t get our preparation right or if we are slightly off, these games can become more difficult very quickly.

“We will approach this game like we have done the previous three because we want a really great performance. We want to put pressure on the other teams competing for the title. It’s a different challenge but a good one.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Ben Youngs says England prepared for unusual tactics from Italy