'Italy always tail off after 60 minutes’.
It is one of the greatest and most repeated Six Nations cliches, but as with its counterpart ‘which French side will turn up’, is it going out of fashion?
Italy have shown in their last few impressive performances that instead of tailing off in the last twenty minutes of a test match, they are actually putting their opposition to the sword. The remarkable game in Cardiff last year obviously springs to mind but also to be within a shot of beating the Grand Slam champions on Sunday at the 79th minute shows just why this myth is beginning to be dispelled.
England on the other hand may be taking on that cursed mantle. In last years Six Nations they scored only one try (that was against Italy in a 33-0 win) and 19 points in the last twenty minutes across the five matches. A pitiful return. And we know England’s attack has been underperforming for quite some time, but this is a part of a wider picture of how England going missing in games, particularly past the 60-minute mark.
Clearly the New Zealand draw is an outlier but the performance against Scotland on the weekend further highlights the extent of this problem for Borthwicks men.
While the new regime has done away with the ‘finishers’ tag, the replacements are still doing anything but. Their finishing and impact has been dismal.
There can be a variety of factors for the drop in performance in the later stages of the game; experience has often be cited, but fitness and squad depth and more importantly killer instinct is lacking.
Scotland showed the complete opposite in Twickenham and Italy are likely to bring a similarly dangerous threat. Their equally fearlessness nature, spear headed by the likes of Andrea Capuozzo highlights how dangerous Italy can be.
If the Italians can be in front on 60-minute mark you wouldn’t bet against them going on to secure an historic win. The last time England came form behind to win a test match was way back, some 18 months ago against South Africa in the autumn of 2021.
Italy are a side full of fortitude that now have the ability and confidence to match. England will need an 80-minute performance to beat them.
But currently all evidence points to the 60-minute mantle being firmly passed from the Italians to the tired English.
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