Will Greenwood: Italy will be no match for England as they storm towards Grand Slam

Chris Ashton could well get his try-scoring form back against Italy on Sunday

Italy will present little opposition at Twickenham on Sunday against England, thinks Betfair Ambassador Will Greenwood...

England v Italy
15:00, Sunday 10th March
Live on BBC1

England fell just short of the points margin I expected them to win by last week against France, a piece of Wesley Fofana magic ensured the French lost by just ten points at Twickenham. Fofana was finally given the chance to show what he can do in the centre and duly delivered. As I mentioned in my previous column, France don't have anything like the fitness level they need at this tournament and I expected England to pull away more emphatically than they did. Still, England's 100% record remains intact. 

Next up, the challenge is unlikely to be anywhere near as difficult when Stuart Lancaster's men meet Italy. Don't get me wrong, the Italians have not been without their moments in this year's Six Nations, they showed flashes against Wales and had a good win over France, but there's not much chance of them taking anything from this game. 

On the positive side for the visitors though, their talismanic forward Sergio Parisse is back, and that's massive for them. The Azzurri aren't short of strength and guts, but Parisse is a special player and would make the squad of any team in world rugby. He'll greatly improve their scrum, an area they were outclassed in without him against Wales. He's in a different class, and although this sounds slightly presumptuous, could greatly reduce the number of points that England win by.

And that's the situation as I see it on Sunday; Italy cannot win this game. Their record against England reads played 18, lost 18 for a 0% win rate and that's in no way likely to change this weekend. Although outwardly they'll be talking about focus, not taking their opponents for granted and seeing the job through, privately England will be setting targets, looking to rack up the points and tuning themselves up for a potential Grand Slam-clincher in Cardiff.

One area of the team that's an interesting one for England at the moment is Chris Ashton's position out on the wing. He's going through something of a barren run, and was defensively exposed against France. When Ashton was scoring tries for fun (he ran over for four in this fixture two years ago) critics don't tend to notice the other frailties in his game. When he's not getting the tries though, it's a different story. Suddenly there are question marks over him and his defensive work and he'll be desperate to put that right on Sunday. It's the right decision to stick with him, he's a a superb player on his day and I wouldn't be surprised to see him among the tries at Twickenham.

There's absolutely no value in backing England in any sort of winning scenario in this game, so we're going to have to look a little further afield for something worthwhile. I'm drawn to the First Scoring Play market and I like the look of an England Penalty to open proceedings at 2.47/5. I can easily see Italy giving something away early on, and Chris Robshaw will be keen to get some points on the board without delay. It'll give England a platform to build on, and then they can go on and play some open rugby at Italy's expense. 

Recommended Bet

England to open the scoring with a penalty at 2.47/5