England’s worst nightmares became reality as Italy recorded a historic 23-18 Six Nations victory at the Stadio Olimpico, beating them for the first time in the championship and deepening the visitors’ slump.
Tasked with recovery after defeats to Scotland and Ireland, England looked set to return to winning ways after first-half tries from Tommy Freeman and Tom Roebuck and two second-half penalties from Fin Smith. But the match turned on the sin‑binnings of Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje, and Leonardo Marin’s decisive try while England were temporarily down to 13 sealed a famous night for Italy.
The win lifts Italy above England into fourth in the Six Nations table and keeps them in contention for a top-three finish for the first time. England, second-bottom, now face a trip to title-chasing France in round five and face fresh questions over direction under Steve Borthwick.
Italy 23-18 England – Score summary
– Italy – Tries: Menoncello (34), Marin (72); Conversions: P Garbisi (34, 73); Penalties: P Garbisi (20, 57, 60)
– England – Tries: Freeman (26), Roebuck (40); Conversions: F Smith (40); Penalties: F Smith (45, 54)
Italy’s preparations were unaffected by England’s late disruption when Tom Curry was injured in the warm-up and Sam Underhill was called up as a replacement. England controlled much of the early kicking exchanges but failed to convert pressure into points. Paolo Garbisi opened the scoring with a penalty in the 21st minute after Italy had established a foothold.
Italy’s lead lasted only five minutes. Alex Coles’s sweeping pass released Tommy Freeman to score in the corner after a direct line-out routine. Italy responded when Tommaso Menoncello sliced between Joe Heyes and Underhill to restore the hosts’ advantage. England struck again on the stroke of half-time when Tom Roebuck gathered Fin Smith’s cross-field kick and dived over as the clock went red to head into the interval in front.
Two Smith penalties early in the second half pushed England beyond a one-score lead, and their position looked stronger when Italy prop Giacomo Nicotera was sin‑binned. The match then shifted: Underhill was shown a yellow, and Fabrizio Garbisi kicked two penalties in four minutes to cut England’s advantage. Soon after, Maro Itoje was yellow-carded for slapping the ball out of Alessandro Garbisi’s hands, leaving England briefly down to 13.
Italy capitalised on the extra numbers. Menoncello powered down the wing and offloaded inside to Leonardo Marin, who crossed for the decisive try. Garbisi’s conversion and earlier penalties completed the scoring that gave Italy their first-ever Six Nations win over England.
Head coach Steve Borthwick, speaking after the match, praised Italy’s development but lamented England’s discipline: “Credit Italy, a very good side who have developed a long way. You could see that with the level of their performance. We are terribly disappointed, gutted by not getting the result. For 60 minutes I thought we were in control but the two sin-binnings hurt us. [Discipline] has cost us. It was the forwards today but the amount of times we have been without a back-three player and conceded points… it has been a significant factor in this championship. It adds loads to other players and is something we need to do a lot better.”
Captain Maro Itoje accepted responsibility and called for unity: “It is obviously very disappointing, and it is on us as players. We have to wear this performance and own the result. It’s a results-based business. This team, over the last year, has put some good performances together but recently we haven’t. This result wasn’t good enough. We have to face the facts, face reality and get back to work. If we knew [what was wrong] we probably wouldn’t be in this position. We have to stick together. Teams go through tough periods and we are having one now. We take responsibility for that as players.”