Italy vs England Predictions - Italy to cover against England in Rome

Ralph Staniforth

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Last updated: 24 minutes ago

Ralph Staniforth 24 minutes ago

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Italy seeks to leverage home advantage against England.
Despite recent losses, England has a strong historical record against Italy.
Italy aims to challenge England, exploiting recent vulnerabilities.

Italy backed to get close against England (Getty Images)

Italy vs England Predictions

Italy are a very good side and no longer the pushovers of the Six Nations. At home, the Italians are especially dangerous and with England’s confidence down a bit, I feel there may be a window of opportunity here for Italy.

Italy vs England Predictions
Head to Head
Italy Form
England Form
Italy vs England Starting Lineups & News

However, despite their last two performances, England have some very good form and performances to fall back on.

Italy have lost their last 2 matches.
Italy have won 3 of their last 4 home matches.
England have lost their last 2 matches.
England have won 12 of their last 14 matches.
England have won their last 32 matches against Italy.

Head to Head

Since 1991 England and Italy have met on 32 occasions with England winning every single game. There have been a few close contests, none more so than in 2024 in Rome when England won 27-24.

Italy Form

Italy are once again showing in the 2026 Six Nations that they are a threat to the bigger sides in the game. Their improvement has been superb over the last five years.

In the Six Nations, Italy are fifth with five points having won one of their three matches. However, that doesn’t tell the full tale.

In round one, on a very wet and windy afternoon, Italy scraped past Scotland 18-15 at home. Round two they performed superbly in Dublin, having a try chalked off that could have taken them level in a 20-13 loss.

A fortnight ago, Italy went down 33-8 against a very good French side away from home. For large parts of the game, Italy were in the fight but in the end, raw French power saw Italy fall short.

England Form

England have been the biggest disappointment of the 2026 Six Nations to date and regardless of the last two rounds, it is likely to remain that way.

Currently, England hold fourth place with one win and two defeats, and they are six points off Scotland in third place. After a strong 48-7 home win over Wales in the first round, England were on a 12-match winning streak.

That came to a crushing end at Murrayfield in round two where Scotland produced a stunning display in the Calcutta Cup, winning 31-20. That was a setback, but what followed in round three is hard to explain. Ireland, who were struggling for form, went to Twickenham to win 42-21 and humiliate the hosts who were being talked about as 2027 World Cup contenders just two weeks prior.

Italy vs England Starting Lineups & News

Italy: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Michele Lamaro (captain), 5 Andrea Zambonin,4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti, caps

Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Federico Ruzza,20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Tommaso Allan

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tommy Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie Georgie, 1 Ellis Genge

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Marcus Smith