MALLETT JEALOUS OF ENGLAND’S RICHES
Martin Johnson's dilemma of who to play at fly-half – either Toby Flood or Danny Cipriani – for England, is a problem that Italy coach Nick Mallett would love to have. The Azzurri take on Johnson’s side next Saturday at Twickenham in their Six Nations opener, and the South African admits that he is jealous of the half-back talent at Johnson’s disposal.
"As usual we have a very good tight five and a good pack of forwards, but the perennial problem is settling on a good half-back combination,” the 52-year-old, who is considering playing veteran flanker Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half.
“It's fantastic for Johnson to have two players of Flood and Cipriani’s quality. Flood is very good defensively, has a good kicking game, very courageous, while Cipriani has flashes of brilliance which on a good day gets all the headlines and when there's a charged-down kick gets all the headlines as well.”
Captain Sergio Parisse hinted that Johnson’s team will have to be inventing in attack, and not squander as many openings as they did in the autumn series, if they are to defeat Italy.
“We want to try and beat England with our defence so we are working hard and hoping we can win our first match,” the Stade Francais No8, who led Italy to only one Six Nations victory last year, said.
“England’s players will really want to win this first match. They have some problems because they lost some Tests in November, so it’s been difficult for them.”
Martin Johnson's dilemma of who to play at fly-half – either Toby Flood or Danny Cipriani – for England, is a problem that Italy coach Nick Mallett would love to have. The Azzurri take on Johnson’s side next Saturday at Twickenham in their Six Nations opener, and the South African admits that he is jealous of the half-back talent at Johnson’s disposal.
"As usual we have a very good tight five and a good pack of forwards, but the perennial problem is settling on a good half-back combination,” the 52-year-old, who is considering playing veteran flanker Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half.
“It's fantastic for Johnson to have two players of Flood and Cipriani’s quality. Flood is very good defensively, has a good kicking game, very courageous, while Cipriani has flashes of brilliance which on a good day gets all the headlines and when there's a charged-down kick gets all the headlines as well.”
Captain Sergio Parisse hinted that Johnson’s team will have to be inventing in attack, and not squander as many openings as they did in the autumn series, if they are to defeat Italy.
“We want to try and beat England with our defence so we are working hard and hoping we can win our first match,” the Stade Francais No8, who led Italy to only one Six Nations victory last year, said.
“England’s players will really want to win this first match. They have some problems because they lost some Tests in November, so it’s been difficult for them.”
Labels: England, Italy, Martin Johnson, Nick Mallett, RBS 6 Nations
