The thing I like about England rugby coach Brian Ashton is that, unlike his predecessors Clive Woodward and Andy Robinson, he has a sense of humour.

How misery-guts Woodward in particular would have coped with an unexplicable defeat by Wales in the game after the World Cup final I have no idea. I’ll forgive his successor Robinson because he had so little to smile about during his miserable time in charge that it doesn’t surprise me he always looked glum.

While nobody finds losing funny, Ashton’s wry crack that after being told not to feed Wales anything his players handed them the lot on a plate showed that, like his namesake in the Monty Python classic Life of Brian, he's capable of looking on the bright side even at the gloomiest of times.

''We are all massively disappointed and incredibly angry and hopefully we can turn that into something positive'' - Brian Ashton


With the trip to Italy on Sunday taking on an unexpectedly high significance, the England coach has made five changes to the side which inexplicably fell apart against Warren Gatland’s not-so-fiery dragons at Twickenham.

There have been all sorts of theories why a team that was so dominant in the first half should have played like a team of schoolboys for the last 20 minutes. Come to think of it, no self-respecting schoolboy team would have accepted such a pathetic non-attempt to turn the tide back their way.

So why did it happen?
  • Was it over-confidence borne out of a first 40 minutes in which Wales were all but swept away? Did the England players subconsciously think the job was done – and believe they just had to go back out on the pitch and the points would continue to mount up by the dozen?
  • Did the unexpectedly high injury toll disrupt the England team beyond the point where it could function effectively as a unit? In other words, did the ship lose its rudder?
  • Did Wales, a badly beaten side by the break, suddenly realise that they actually had a chance of turning things round after ‘doing an Ashton’ and handing the ball back on a plate almost every time they had possession?
The one reality is that England lost and Wales won – and that Ashton’s men can no longer win the Grand Slam or Triple Crown. The Championship is, however, still an option if they can pick up now where they left off in the World Cup.

As Ashton said this week: ‘’There are angry men in our squad – and they ought to be angry with themselves. We are all massively disappointed and incredibly angry and hopefully we can turn that into something positive.’’

On paper, the Italian job should not be too difficult, even though the Azzurri did have their best Six Nations season last time round, with victories over Wales and Scotland. But after losing to to an unimpressive Irish team at Croke Park last Saturday, they have it all to do to repeat last season’s successes.

For England, a second successive defeat seems unthinkable but Ashton has resisted calls to call in young pretender Danny Cipriani to replace the stuttering Jonny Wilkinson, whose performance after the break was arguably his worst for his country.

"It would be so easy for me to make a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in that second half,’’ reasoned Ashton. ‘’But I am not that sort of person.  "If you look at the game overall, there were more positives than negatives despite the fact that we lost it."

England have gone out to 6/1 in the Six Nations betting following the Wales defeat. France (4/5), Wales (3/1) and Ireland (5/1) are all seen as better bets by Ladbrokes. Scotland are 25/1 and rank outsiders Italy 125/1. But ironically,  their odds of beating 1/7 favourites England in Rome on Sunday (4/1) are identical to Ladbrokes' pre-match odds for last Saturday's Twickenham debacle.

The three teams that can still achieve the Grand Slam - France, Wales and Ireland - are rated 13/8,
6/1 and 16/1 respectively to win their four remaining matches.

Will England make the most of their Italian job - and how do you think the Six Nations will pan out from here? Post your comments below or submit an article to Sportingo.