STEVE BORTHWICK’S England were left in ruins in Rome as they caught yellow fever and handed the game to Italy.
Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje were both shown cards in a bonkers period of the second when England lost their heads and gifted Italy the game.
Leading 18-10 they looked to have the Italians measure then Underhill hit Italian prop Danilo Fischetti high on 57 minutes. He was sweating on a red but got a reprieve from the TMO then Itoje cynically slapped the ball down and was off as well.
England conceded six points straight after the Underhill challenge and with Itoje still off the park replacement scrum-half Leonardo Marin streaked home to give Italy a first win over the Red Rosers in 33 attempts.
A historic day for the Italians and a disastrous day for Borthwick and massive questions will be asked after his horror show.
England were outplayed, outthought and outmuscled on a day that will be talked about in Rome for a long time. And where they go from here is anyone’s guess.
Borthwick’s side arrived here on a downward spiral after their thrashings by Scotland and Ireland and all talk of punters flooding into France next week with the title on the line were dust.
All the talk in the weeks leading up to those two disasters was of starting fast, bringing the muscle men into the game early and dominating the breakdown.
That all went up in smoke as Scotland and Ireland sprinted to early leads and never let England off the leash. Here England had the game won, then lost it in with two moments of madness.
Borthwick claimed he was not in panic this week but the nine personnel changes he made from the Ireland game climbed to 10 when Tom Curry was injury in the warm-up and replaced before kick-off by Sam Underhill with Chandler Cunningham-South upped to the bench.
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And it was all going to plan, England dominating possession and territory and coming away with nothing for the first quarter.
They tried to go for a try by kicking for line out off an early penalty but bungled the set piece and were shown what to do in a Test match when Italy too the points, through Paolo Garbisi to lead 3-0 on 20 minutes.
But then England’s All Saints, the Northampton trio of Fin Smith, Alex Coles and Tommy Freeman combined for the first try, with Freeman on the end of it.
But Italy then made complete mugs of the England defence with centre Tommaso Menoncello going past Joe Heyes to score under the posts and the Red Rosers were rocking.
England were doing everything by the book in attack until Smith switched play with a cross-kick which found Tom Roebuck out wide and the Sale wing did rest. Game on at 12-10 but England were hanging on.
Then Smith kicked two penalties, under orders from skipper Maro Itoje, with the captain sensing England needed to get the scoreboard ticking over.
But with Underhill in the bin Italy grew another leg, even though they were down to 14 themselves with hooker Giacomo Nicotera off for killing the ball. Garbisi helped himself to two more penalties and England were reeling.
Then came Underhill and Itoje’s cards and Marin’s score. The Italians then put thir shoulders to the wheel and they deserved everything they got.
