Opportunity knocks for England youngsters in the Italian job

There may be bigger collisions to come in this Six Nations but this weekend’s Italian job holds plenty of significance for several individuals on England’s teamsheet. Fail to “light up Rome” as Eddie Jones has been repeatedly urging and the head coach may just consider pulling the plug on some Test careers. Shine in a ruthless all-round performance, on the other hand, and a brighter future may well beckon.

Few would have predicted this reshuffled England combination even a fortnight ago and it feels like an appropriately thumbs up/down moment for certain players. Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, Joe Marchant and the fit-again Jack Nowell, plus the uncapped replacement Ollie Chessum, will all feel that this is an opportunity they badly need to take.

With Jones going out of his way to mention the seven injured senior players currently unavailable to him, last weekend’s loss in Edinburgh has further raised the stakes. While Luke Cowan-Dickie would probably have started again had he been able to train more this week, Jones appears to be stress-testing virtually every unit of the team ahead of loftier challenges down the track.

Perhaps the most significant area of all, assuming Maro Itoje is not going to make a permanent switch to the back row, is the 8-9-10 axis of Dombrandt, Randall and Marcus Smith. Depending on your taste in such things, it is either the most exciting of English boy band trios or a major risk. Those who have been following the Gallagher Premiership for the last 12 months will almost certainly tend towards the former.

Ben Youngs, now set to win his record-equalling 114th England cap off the bench, may not be among them but for anyone else keen to see what England can really do if