England behemoth Andrew Sheridan has been sidelined for the upcoming game against Italy, and this will be news that will stoke the irrepressible fire of confidence that burns within the Azzurri squad.
It is a well known fact that it is at scrum-time where the Italians can regularly claim to match some of the best in the world, and despite Sheridan still being unable to show what England and Sale Sharks fans know he is capable of, he is still the premier loose-head in the country and Johnson will be nervous.
Salvatore Perugini (73 caps), Leonardo Ghiraldini (24), Martin Castrogiovanni (72) start against England against a front row whose total caps comes to just 36. While youth, exuberance and gazelle-like prancing around is perfect for the flashier players amongst us, the front row is an area where players can age like wine.
Forget Gethin Jenkins and his unbelievable tekkers, it is the gnarled, squat, toothless and menacing ageing front-rower who strikes the greatest fear into a young player and it is this type of player than Italy just love producing. Italy may lack in creative quality (with the exception of the almost-mythical Sergio Parisse), but they certainly know how to scrum, as they proved against Ireland last weekend. Cian Healy may well be the future in the Irish loose-head, but he still has a lot to learn, and if Declan Kidney genuinely believes that Healy was anything other woeful then he should probably seek medical assistance.
The last year has seen England slowly build a very solid team, but there still remains a severe lack of world-class quality up-front at scrum-time. Sheridan's lack of form is troubling, especially when uncapped Alex Corbisiero is considered the next best option. Corbisiero is a wonderful prospect and one would not begrudge him his debut cap after his sparkling form for London Irish this season, but the scraggly Italian has seen off some of the best props in the world. Given that Sheridan, Tim Payne and Mat Mullan are all injured, leaving England Saxon and fashion pioneer Joe Marler as the lone gun-slinger.
However, it is a force greater than that of Castrogiovanni that poses the biggest problem to the England scrum.
60% of all international scrums collapse, and average scrum-time has risen to 53 seconds. Broadcasters are including 'scrum time counters' to go alongside the scoreline, and there are rumours emerging that suggest scrummaging will begin to be phased out at age-group rugby.
Being born and raised in the front-row may give this writer a slight bias towards the traditional dark-arts of the front row, but an eight man shove, obliterating the oppostion in the process is a thing of great beauty.
Referees need to take control. The IRB need to seriously look at how the scrum is governed. Props need to learn that dropping a retreating scrum is not a 'get out of jail free card'. Without the scrum, Rugby Union loses the ability to claim it is one of the toughest sports on the planet, and unfortunately, players built a like me will be looking very, very lost.
Graham Rowntree has already delivered an ultimatum to his England front-row, and if Cole, Hartley and Corbisiero can cope with the Italian warriors then not only a Six Nations win, but a long World Cup run could become far more realistic.
Prediction on England v Italy
England to win by 15 points
Corbisiero to be injured.
Johnson to punch a chair
