Jarvis steers England Saxons to fine win in Sicily

England Saxons recorded the second win of their campaign when they completed an emphatic five-try win over Italy A in Ragusa, Sicily tonight.

Harlequins fly-half Adrian Jarvis produced an impressive man-of-the-match performance that included a confident all-round display and a flawless kicking exhibition to net him a 13-point tally from five conversions and a penalty.

While Jarvis was in fine form in the pivotal role, this was by no means a one-man effort, as head coach Steve Bates was keen to point out.

"I was very pleased with the way the whole team performed, especially bearing in mind that the side showed a number of changes to the line-up that beat Ireland in our opening game and had only a brief period to get to know each other," he said.

"Every one of them can be very proud of their performance.

"We dominated the first half, but Italy were still very much in contention at the break.

"But in the second half, the players did exactly what was asked of them and that response enabled us to gain control with four tries."

England edged a competitive first half when they went into half-time leading 10-8.

An even first quarter saw the scoring restricted to a brace of penalties, fly-half Paulo Buso putting Italy A ahead when the Saxons were penalised for an offence at a ruck and his opposite number Jarvis responding with a successful kick when the home side were found guilty of the same offence.

The Saxons endured an anxious passage of play on 25 minutes when they had to defend vigorously at a close-range scrum under the posts.

They kept their line intact with some robust tackling and when Italy switched play to the right flank with a cross-field kick, wingman Ludovico Nitoglia was adjudged to be offside and the pressure was lifted.

Quality kicking from Jarvis then put England back on the offensive and the Italian defence was stretched to the limit by a sustained bombardment by the Saxons pack.

Though Italy resisted well, the visitors finally gained their reward when Harlequins number eight Tom Guest picked up at the back of a scrum and slipped through on the tight side for a try at the corner that Jarvis converted to put his side 10-3 ahead.

Italy, however, hit back on the stroke of half-time. Number eight Jacobus Erasmus made a break down the right touchline and though full-back Nick Abendanon managed to get to him, Erasmus broke the tackle to score in the corner.

England wasted no time in getting a grip on proceedings after the interval.

Five minutes in, strong interplay by the forwards ended in flanker Ben Woods taking play into the 22 and, from there, Jarvis provided a wide pass for Delon Armitage to canter in untouched.

Replacement scrum-half Danny Care made an immediate impact to set up two tries in quick succession for his former Leeds team-mate Tom Biggs and lock Nick Kennedy, who showed a nice turn of foot in his 30-yard gallop to the line.

Italy rallied for a spell under the guiding hand of replacement fly-half Luciano Rodriguez, but the Saxons dealt with a pressure and hit back with a try by centre Alex Crockett, Jarvis converting all four tries to leave his side with a comfortable margin.

Italy battled to the death and were rewarded with a late by replacement centre Alessandro Chillon, but by then the Saxons had their second victory safely in the bag. Jarvis said afterwards: "I thought we did really well considering we have only really been together four days. "We did what we set out to do, we tied them in and our fitness showed in the second half. "We got such good ball from the pack, it was awesome. "When Danny (Care) came on he was very quick off the base and looked dangerous. "With Tom (Guest) at number eight, we all knew each other and it was nice to play together. "It was great that all the Quins boys put in good performances. Tom had a great game and Will (Skinner) played really well when he came on, too."

England Saxons: Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby) (Mike Brown, Harlequins, 74); Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie), Delon Armitage (London Irish), Alex Crockett (Bath Rugby), John Rudd (Newcastle Falcons) (Topsy Ojo, London Irish, 74); Adrian Jarvis (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Newcastle Falcons) (Danny Care, Harlequins, 51); Alex Clarke (Bristol Rugby) (Jon Golding, Newcastle Falcons, 74), David Paice (London Irish) (Andrew Long, Newcastle Falcons, 77), Jon Golding (Newcastle Falcons) (John Brooks, Harlequins, 64), Peter Short (Bath Rugby) (Andrew Springgay, Bayonne, 51), Nick Kennedy (London Irish), Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons) captain, Ben Woods (Newcastle Falcons), Tom Guest (Harlequins) (Will Skinner, Harlequins, 64).Tries: Guest, Armitage, Biggs, Kennedy, Crockett Con: Jarvis 5. Pens: JarvisItaly A: Riccardo Pavan (Overmach Cariparma); Ludovico Nitoglia (Cammi Calvisano), Gilberto Pavan (Overmach Cariparma) (Alessandro Chillon, Overmach Cariparma, Alessio Galante (Rolly Gran Parma), Michele Sepe (AlmavivA UR Capitolina); Paolo Buso (Cammi Calvisano) (Luciano Rodriguez, Ovred San Donà, 57), Giulio Toniolatti (AlmavivA UR Capitolina) (Fabio Semenzato, Benetton Treviso, 59); Matias Aguero (Saracens) (Franco Sbaraglini, Benetton Treviso, 68), Luigi Ferraro (Montepaschi Viadana, captain), Lorenzo Cittadini (Cammi Calvisano), Gonzalo Padro (Carrera Petrarca Padova), Antonio Pavanello (Benetton Treviso), Silvio Orlando (Benetton Treviso), Robert Barbieri (Benetton Treviso) (Paul Derbyshire, Rolly Gran Parma, 42) , Jacobus Erasmus (Montepaschi Viadana)Sin-binned: Cittadini, 74.Tries: Erasmus, Chillon. Pen: Buso Con: Rodriguez Referee: C Lafon (France)Attendance: 3,000 (Stadio Aldo Campo, Ragusa)