Lo Cicero plays down England injury

Both teams go into the game on the back of defeats in their opening matches and Brian Ashton's side have an injury crisis to deal with, with five players unavailable following their loss to Wales.
"Any team can start the tournament on the wrong foot," Lo Cicero told PA Sport. "But we cannot fool ourselves regarding the number of injured players they have because they have great players."The situation could be even worse for England if captain Phil Vickery is unable to shake off a calf muscle problem.Vickery is a player that I resect and admire," said the 31-year-old Lo Cicero. "We have had so many battles in the past."We are the same age and I am jealous of his achievements, as world champion and as runner-up in last year's World Cup."Italy coach Nick Mallett has urged his players to concentrate on the Azzurri game-plan, instead of worrying about how to get the better of a team they have never beaten in a Test. Lo Cicero echoed those sentiments.He said: "We have to focus on our game not on England. They are a great team and we must respect them for what they have done."

The Italians had some good moments in Ireland but Mallett admitted his team were fortunate not to have conceded as many as three more tries in their 16-11 defeat. Lo Cicero hopes that the team will be able to put the loss behind them.He said: "We have analysed our defeat in Dublin. Mallett has pin-pointed where we went wrong and the things we need to correct and that is our task come Sunday."We have worked well this week but we have to continue to work hard and not get carried away."Last weekend's game was the first for Italy under Mallett, who replaced Pierre Berbizier shortly after the World Cup and Lo Cicero admits that the Italians are still in a period of adjustment.He said: "After the World Cup, we had a coaching change, we had new players coming into important positions. Unlike other teams, we haven't had a chance to adapt to the new tactics and that is why we have to help these players."

Bracken inspires Oz win

The paceman earned career-best figures and claimed the crucial wickets of opener Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara, who top scored for the Sri Lankans with 42 and looked the main threat. He then helped skittle the lower order as the tourists managed just 125 off 31.3 overs chasing a target of 254.

Michael Clarke's unbeaten half-century had guided Australia to 253 for six, and in reply the tourists failed to recover from a dismal start.

They lost openers Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga to consecutive balls early on for just seven and 10 respectively.

Kumar Sangakkara steadied the ship but was trapped lbw by Bracken eight runs short of his half-century. After that, Sri Lanka offered little resistance, adding just 51 runs for the last six wickets.

Ricky Ponting had opted to bat after winning the toss and his decision was vindicated when Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden put on 65 for the first wicket, before the latter was caught by Mahela Jayawardene off Ishara Amerasinghe.

Clarke came in when the hosts were 88 for two and hit a steady 77no, aided by a useful 34 off 29 balls from James Hopes.

The tourists struggled to cope with the slow, low SCG pitch in the same way.

Jayasuriya was bowled by Brett Lee and Tharanga was caught behind by Gilchrist off Bracken with the first ball of the following over to leave Sri Lanka on 18 for two.

Sangakkara hit four fours off Lee in one over as Sri Lanka looked to recover. The fourth was a rising cover drive which brushed the fingertips of a diving Andrew Symonds, but that let-off aside, the left-hander looked in fine touch.

The same could not be said of Jayawardene, who had already flashed at a couple of wide deliveries before he came down the wicket to Mitchell Johnson with a big heave-ho which edged behind to Gilchrist.

The runs eventually dried up for Sangakkara and after three lean overs he was trapped lbw by Bracken, leaving the tourists in deep trouble on 74 for four.

The wickets continued to tumble and Brad Hogg grabbed his first of the match, forcing Chamara Silva to edge behind to Gilchrist for seven runs.

Chamara Kapugedera was out second ball without troubling the scorers trying to swipe a wideish delivery from Bracken. Gilchrist, standing up to Bracken, missed the catch but it carried to Hayden at first slip, who snaffled it easily.

Six Nations: Physical test awaits England

England's four previous Six Nations trips to Rome have harvested 185 points and a 100% winning record, but the Azzurri will fancy their chances of halting that sequence, especially as their opponents have lost Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Andrew Sheridan, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees.

Wells said: "I think Italy went through the Six Nations last year and gave everybody a hard time to some degree or another.

"They made it very difficult for England to do anything other than scrape a victory at Twickenham.

"There is a massive amount of experience in the Italian side, and part of the challenge is playing against mentally and physically tough opposition, on their own pitch, who are going to want to knock our blocks off.

"Italy come from a scrummaging, driving, mauling, brawling background, and we know we are going to a place where it is becoming harder and harder to get wins.

"There is no point going there with our heads down. We need a really positive environment and a positive vibe from within."

Key to England's victory bid could be how they use juggernaut wing Lesley Vainikolo.

The former Bradford Bulls rugby league star was chronically under-used against Wales, and it is vital England utilise his power and pace at every given opportunity.

England defence coach Mike Ford added: "I am really looking forward to seeing him pop up here, there and everywhere. We are going there with a very positive attitude."

If England are to have any chance of resurrecting their Six Nations campaign - and a possible title bid - there can be no hangover from the pain inflicted by Wales.

Head coach Brian Ashton said: "The players have worked very hard this week. There has been a good level of execution and accuracy in training.

"You can't hide away from what happened last weekend, and when it does happen, you have to address it.

"I wasn't happy at all with the last 20 minutes against Wales. We addressed it on Monday and I am very confident that, God forbid, if we were in that situation again, the outcome would be slightly different."

And despite the crushing Wales setback, Ashton hopes England can take another step down the evolutionary route towards playing a more complete brand of rugby.

He added: "The general mood in the camp is one of 'we've set our stall out, we've all bought into this'.

"What we don't want now is any black sheep, either on the playing side or management side, saying 'hang on a minute, this is far too dangerous and risky'.

"We are probably now in a transition phase with some of the younger players coming into the side, which is something I envisaged happening possibly a little bit further down the line.

Parisse relishing England challenge

he Azzurri are well aware of the challenge they face against Brian Ashton's side, the only European team they have failed to beat in a Test match.ut with Ashton's team struggling with an injury crisis with five players unavailable following their 26-19 setback against Wales, this could be an opportunity for the Italians to make history.We have a great game against a top team like England coming up," said Parisse on Saturday."We know it's going to be very hard but I have told y ta-mates we are not mediocre players, we will go out on the pitch with only one aim and this is to win."taly lost 16-11 in their opener in Dublin in what was coach Nick Mallett's first game in charge.Mallett had mixed emotions bout his team's performance against Ireland and hopes his side can show an improvement come Sunday."There were lots of positives that we could take after that game," said Mallett. "But as a coach I have to look at the mistakes we made and try to improve our game."There are things we very badly need to improve on."The approach Mallett wants his players to take is to concentrate on themselves and the Azzurri game-plan instead of worrying about beating last year's World Cup runners-up."We have tried to focus on our game and not focus on our opponents," said the England-born coach. "I haven't been long with this team and I want to focus on them rather than on England."It's important that we get our game right."Possession is vital, we had that against Ireland and we have to do that again against England.We also have to avoid making mistakes, too - that will be very important."

Mallett is nevertheless satisfied with the talent he has at his disposal.
"Having watched the Six Nations for the past four or five years, I knew Italy's strengths and weaknesses before accepting to coach the team," he said.
"I knew when I came we had a big challenge to replace (retired Alessandro) Troncon and to find a number 10 of international level."We've only had one game but I am very happy with the work done by Andrea Masi and Pietro Travagli. I am also satisfied with Sergio as captain."Parisse was selected by Mallett to replace Marco Bortolussi as skipper.The 24-year-old cannot wait to play his national team's fist game at home this season."For us it's a pleasure to play at home," he said. "We will have plenty of support in the stands and it's going to be beautiful to see the Flaminio Stadium packed.

Hill leads Suns to victory

Amare Stoudemire scored 33 points for Phoenix, who overcame a poor shooting night and ended a two-game winless run by hitting all 32 of their free throws, falling one short of the franchise record for consecutive free throws.

The Suns acquired O'Neal from the Miami Heat on Thursday but the center has been suffering from an inflated left hip so remained in south Florida on personal business - it is not clear when he will make his first appearance.

The New York Knicks were on the verge of a gutsy win against the San Antonio Spurs but Michael Finley converted five three-pointers, including a game-tying shot from the arc just before the buzzer in regulation, as the defending champions edged to a 99-93 overtime victory.

Tim Duncan collected 21 points and 14 rebounds and Finley scored 17 for the Spurs, who erased an 18-point second-half deficit to secure the win.

Carmelo Anthony scored a career-high 49 points to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 111-100 victory over the Washington Wizards.

Anthony made 19-of-25 shots from the field and dished out eight assists while fellow All-Star Allen Iverson contributed 18 points and 11 assists for Denver, who picked up a fourth win in the last five games.

Kobe Bryant poured in 36 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 117-113 win over the Orlando Magic.

Pau Gasol added 30 points for the Lakers, while Dwight Howard scored 19 points and Jameer Nelson added 17 for Orlando.

Leon Powe scored 16 points, including a putback with two-tenths of a second remaining, to lift the Boston Celtics to a 88-86 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Paul Pierce had 18 points and six assists and Ray Allen scored 17 for Boston, who have won four of their last five games.

All-Star Jason Kidd finished with 19 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his 99th career triple-double as the New Jersey Nets claimed a 104-90 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Champion Loeb crashes out in Sweden

The Frenchman, whose hopes of claiming a fifth world title began with victory in the season-opener in Monte Carlo two weeks ago, rolled his Citroen three kilometres before the end of the 22km special stage four and was eventually forced to retire with a clutch problem."I was on a left-hand corner and tucked the front wheel a little too much into the snow bank," said Loeb who was competing in his 100th WRC."That pulled the car sideways and we rolled over."

Although the external damage to his car consisted of a missing rear spoiler and a dented roof, a broken clutch meant he had to be pushed into the Citroen service area where mechanics spent their allotted 15 minutes trying and repair the damage.However, their efforts proved in vain as Loeb was forced to park his car on the roadside soon after leaving the service area.Loeb's misfortune has opened the way for Jari-Matti Latvala to claim his first ever WRC victory after he opened a commanding 48-second lead over fellow Finn and Ford team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen.
Latvala claimed all six of the stages on the first full day to undermine Ford lead driver Hirvonen's pre-rally favouritism.And Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson promise not to let team orders prevent Latvala from claiming his initial success at a rally that has been dominated by Nordic drivers - with Loeb's 2004 success the only occasion a non-Scandinavian has won the rally in its 57-year history.

Djokovic withdraws from Singles

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia was forced to withdraw from his singles match against Russia in the Davis Cup on Friday due to the flu.

Djokovic, the world number three, was replaced by doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic, who slipped to a 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 defeat against Mikhail Youzhny in the opening singles rubber.

The 20-year-old Djokovic is the second player to pull out of singles competition for the Serbians after Janko Tipsarevic was forced to withdraw with a stomach bug, the Davis Cup announced on its official website.