Six Nations: England to assess options against Italy and look for a plan B

The last cross-code international to wear England’s No12 shirt is now 10,000 miles away after being accused of not having “the stomach for the fight”, but Ben Te’o has been backed to shine as part of the new-look midfield to face Italy on Sunday.

With Jonathan Joseph a surprise omission from the squad on Wednesday, England are guaranteed to field a new centre pairing against Italy and the 30-year-old Te’o is expected to start at inside-centre with Elliot Daly likely to line up outside him. Owen Farrell, who will lead the side out at Twickenham on the occasion of his 50th cap, is expected to move to fly-half.

Te’o – a former South Sydney Rabbitohs team-mate of Sam Burgess – has five England caps to date but has been used sparingly by Eddie Jones. He was part of the summer tour to Australia but did not make his debut until the autumn, against South Africa, though both his cameos off the bench against France, where he scored the match-winning try, and Wales have been impressive.

Crucially, the Worcester centre is a direct runner with eye-catching offloading skills and offers a different option for Jones, who said after the Wales match that he wanted to make changes in personnel. “One of the things I would like to do is develop multiple ways we can play.”

Jones does not name his team until Friday but considering that both France and Wales had some joy in targeting George Ford, and that the latter’s try was straight through the midfield, a more robust 10-12 axis and a move away from two playmakers would offer Jones a plan B in that department.

He has tried it before and on the two occasions that Farrell has not started at inside centre, Luther Burrell has been picked. He was hauled off after 25 minutes in Australia but Jones appears ready to try again with Te’o, who grew up playing union in New Zealand before switching to league, seemingly fitting the bill. Certainly, according to the full‑back Mike Brown, better than Burgess, who drew the aforementioned criticism from his former head coach at Bath, Mike Ford.

“Sam wasn’t here long enough, was he? I guess they are similar in the way that they have the offloading skills, the skills they’ve brought over from rugby league,” Brown said. “I think Te’o grew up playing rugby union first so he had that base whereas Sam didn’t – he was having to start from zero – so Te’o is a bit more progressed and he’s progressing even more in this environment, he’s showed that coming off the bench and changing games.

“Te’o has been really good. He’s progressed really well since being in this environment. He’s got that direct game but he also has the ball-handling skills, good offloader, his defence is brilliant and he’s been really good coming off the bench as a finisher these last couple of weeks. He really brings this energy, great running skills, getting us over the gain line and also his defence has been top drawer as well.”

England are expected to canter to a 17th consecutive victory, against Italy, who have already conceded 96 points from their opening two matches and look every bit the side that lost against Tonga rather than defeated South Africa a week earlier in the autumn.

The challenge for England then is to put together the “80-minute performance” that Jones says they have failed to do so far but while he will make changes to his team, his matchday squad will be largely the same – Joseph aside – as against Wales. Italy do have in their corner the former Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea, Brendan Venter, familiar with a number of England’s Saracens players, and Mike Catt, Stuart Lancaster’s skills coach, but while Brown was full of praise for the latter he was not unduly concerned by his potential inside knowledge.

“It’ll be great on a personal level to catch up with him,” he said. “I’ve had a few texts around my 50th cap [on the Australia tour]. He was kind enough to text me congratulations, see how I am and sent me a bottle of champagne after the game to my hotel room which was really nice. It shows what kind of bloke he is, he remembered.

“But I think it will be very different [on Sunday from his time here]. He might have taken stuff away. We’ll find out on the weekend.

“It’s the same as every week. It’s England and everyone wants to beat England, don’t they? It’s no different. You are still preparing in exactly the same way, there is no complacency in this camp whatsoever. The preparation is the same as last week and the week before. You’re still pulling on the England shirt, still working hard to achieve that ultimate goal of being No1 in the world and winning World Cups.”