Emerging Italians look to topple England Students and ease the pain of a town

england students rugby

Dates – Sunday 18^th March
Location – L’Aquila, Italy
Stadium Capacity – 10 000

England Students travel to Italy this weekend to take on a formidable team in the form of the Emerging Italian side. England are looking to build upon their emphatic 43 – 15 win over Wales at the Twickenham Stoop a few weeks ago in this end of season encounter.

They have been tasked with bringing down an Emerging Italian side comprising of promising uncapped players. This will of course mean members of squads of the two Italian club sides competing in the outrageously named Rabo Pro Direct 12, Aironi and Treviso. If any one is in doubt of the quality this side will posses, Aironi beat Munster last weekend whilst a number of their key players were away on International Duty. Moreover, this team will feature a number of full time professionals within their ranks and so the prospect of a win becomes all of a sudden more daunting. One can be in no doubt that the Italians will have a formidable pack and so England can guarantee that they are in for one hell of a fight on Sunday afternoon.

And so to the real champions of this weekend, the town of L’Aquila. It will be 3 years on the 6^th of April since this small town, located 100 km east of Rome, suffered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The death toll of this disaster came in over 300 with several member of the local rugby club of L’Aquila being included in those fatalities. And so, this Sunday will see further steps in its regeneration with this international. It is expected to be a 10 000 sell out as the rugby proud town gathers at a ground which once supported those made homeless by the quake and brought the town through its darkest hour.

So what of the England team? , something that might not be the case with the University deadlines approaching and many of the students approaching the end of their University lives. No. 8 Matt Chambers of the University of Exeter returns to the squad to provide some considerable bulk, Tom Sargeant of the same University, captains the side from the flank and provides a strong physical presence as well as a wealth of premiership experience. The try-scoring machine Dan Bibby is also included into the squad following a dazzling display at the Stoop

Key Selection Battles

The England coaching team has a selection headache as to whom to give the starting role to at outside half. Those competing are Zak Vinnicombe (Bath) and Mike Ward (Durham) and both have given good accounts of themselves in the previous fixtures. Ward turned the demolition of Wales into ‘the ten show’ as one fan commented. His ability to release the dangerous and powerful England backline, coupled with an outstanding kicking game and the ability to glide through gaps at will meant that the Welsh backline were at sixes and sevens all evening. However, on the other side of the coin, Vinnicombe presents himself as a strong physical presence putting in some hard hits not too dissimilar of a certain Wilkinson. Added to this it could be argued that he is the better team player, with a very good passing game and an equally good boot to match. The Former Saracens Academy player who’s career has been blighted with injury, also presents a strong case for himself. Who will start? We’re backing Ward but with Vinnicombe to get a good run in the second half.

England Squad

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