Sam Simmonds sets pulse racing but England miss chance to be bolder | Gerard Meagher

Eddie Jones will surely build his back row around his new No 8 but coach may regret not having tried a couple more rolls of the diceThe theory went that this was a conservative England team selected by Eddie Jones. That the number of matches before the World Cup is dwindling and this was the time to give fringe players a taste of the white heat of Six Nations battle. Jones was having none of it, but it cannot be denied that the most eye-catching performance of this ultimately predictable victory – England’s self-styled hunters eventually feasting on their Italian prey – was that of Sam Simmond…