Ben Kay: The changes England need to make to improve on the Italy performance and seal the Grand Slam

/li> 0 shares 4

comments

Former World Cup winner Ben Kay looks the changes England need to make to secure their first Grand Slam triumph since 2003 when they meet Wales on Saturday.

 

England will need to make changes up front if they are to clinch the Grand Slam in the fierce cauldron of the Millennium Stadium.

Recall? Kay believes Joe Marler could be important against Wales

Loose Head Prop

The key area will be the scrum, where Joe Marler should start over Mako Vunipola at loosehead prop to bring his greater experience against Adam Jones, Wales’s renowned scrummager who is almost back to his best. Dan Cole should be a match for either Gethin Jenkins or Paul James but the crucial confrontation will be between England’s loosehead and Jones.

Vunipola, who was making his first Test start, beat Martin Castrogiovanni to the first hit but, after that, he struggled to win the initial impact. By the end, the England front row were having individual  battles rather than scrummaging as a unit.

Flanker

England will also look at their back-row combination and Tom Croft’s second-half performance should put him ahead of James Haskell.

Croft’s line-out ability — giving England guaranteed ball — must be key in the Leicester flanker regaining the No 6 shirt after his bad neck injury.

Hooker

The tightest call up front will be at hooker, where Tom Youngs should hold off the challenge of Dylan Hartley.

But England need to be confident Youngs can handle the fierce pressure of Cardiff, where spectators are much closer than at most grounds and can put players off.

Youngs’ throwing remains suspect, though his all-round play is more dynamic than Hartley’s.

Close competition: Stuart Lancaster may have to consider dropping Tom Youngs

Mistakes behind them? Captain Chris Robshaw will certainly hope so

SATURDAY'S SIX NATIONS DECIDER

ENGLAND WIN GRAND SLAMAn England victory by any margin would secure a first Grand Slam triumph in a decade.ENGLAND WIN TITLEAn England defeat by six points or fewer would still be enough to seal the title.If England lose by seven points but outscore Wales by three tries or more then Stuart Lancaster's men would win the title.WALES WIN TITLEA Wales victory by seven points, providing they stay ahead of England on tournament tries, would see Rob Howley's men retain the title.TITLE SHAREDIf Wales win by seven points but England score two more tries then the title would be shared.

Attitude

But England fans should not be too downcast at the narrow victory. There were a few jeers from spectators about the performance but their team are one win from a title.

Hopefully, this disjointed display will be the best thing that could have happened to Chris Robshaw’s team. It has given them a chance to get all the mistakes out of the way before they face Wales. If they had beaten Italy easily it would have given them a false sense of superiority.

Play to win

The biggest aspect the coaches have to stress is that England must go out to proactively win the game rather than simply trying not to lose. When Italy scored their second-half try I expected it to trigger a major England reaction, but fair play to Italy in how they maintained their momentum right to the end.

England were left hanging on and were not helped by the loss of Geoff Parling to injury. He has to start next Saturday because of his line-out organisation, which will leave Courtney Lawes as the impact substitute.

2013 Six Nations TableTeamPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainstPoints1England4400914882Wales4301926363Scotland4202828444Ireland4212575935Italy4103529626France401350751

  More... England 18 Italy 11: Flood spares blushes as Lancaster's men limp into title decider We must improve: Robshaw demands England up their game before next week's Grand Slam showdown with Wales Andy Robinson: Beat Italy and then England can start thinking about Cardiff and a Grand Slam Wales would rather stop us doing the Slam than win the title themselves, says Wood