England were forced into a late change before their Six Nations match against Italy after Tom Curry sustained an injury during the pre-match warm-up at the Stadio Olimpico. The flanker appeared to hurt himself while the side were practising driving mauls, just minutes before kick-off.
Curry required assistance from two members of England's backroom staff as he left the field, and he was soon replaced in the starting XV by Sam Underhill. Chandler Cunningham-South, who was travelling with the squad as reserve, moved onto the bench.
England arrived in Rome aiming to revive a Six Nations campaign that has stalled after successive defeats to Scotland and Ireland. Steve Borthwick's side sit fourth in the table, with away fixtures against Italy and France remaining in a championship that has fallen short of expectations.
The current run of four defeats in five away games is England's joint-highest number of losses over a five-match period in the entire Six Nations era. In response to the disappointing results, Borthwick made an unprecedented 12 changes to his side, three of them positional, in a clear signal that recent performances have been below the required standard.
Speaking before the match, Borthwick acknowledged the challenge posed by Italy. “We’re expecting a big test in Rome and it’s one the players are really looking forward to,” he said. “We know the challenge Italy will bring at the Stadio Olimpico and we’ve selected a team we believe will deliver the level of performance we’re striving for.”
Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada, meanwhile, warned against reading too much into England's recent results. “They’re the ones who win the most free-kicks from the scrum and the ones who run the most yards with the ball, they’re the best at dominating tackles, they’re the ones who slow the ball down the most in the ruck, and they’re also the ones who are best at getting it out quickly when they have possession: they do so many things well, even if they haven’t won.”
