KEY BATTLES: Italy v England

Italy coach Conor O'Shea and his coaching staff certainly had a special plan for England the last time the two sides met last year and you can expect nothing less in 2018.

England will head into the match as overwhelming favourites and Italy will need to win these Key Battles if they stand a chance of upsetting the current Six Nations champions: 

The Battle of the Eights  

England's Sam Simmonds will be featuring in only his 4th Test match and his first Six Nations match and will have a real battle on his hands when he faces off against Sergio Parisse who earn his 130th test cap. 

Simmonds is a hard-hitting and hard-working loose forward while Parisse is an out and out no.8 whose all-around game makes him one of the best in the business. 

Prediction: Parisse is likely to win this head-to-head battle but Simmonds loose trio partners will further help England's cause. 

The Battle Up Front

The Italian pack will need to front up to a powerful English scrum this weekend, despite the absence of Billy Vunipola, Joe Marler and James Haskell. 

Italy does have the potential to cause an upset here with their pack performing relatively well during the 2017 November Tests and the emergence of Renato Giammarioli and Sebastian Negri.

The Tactical Battle 

As mentioned before O'Shea will surely have a plan to unravel the English game plan and it will be up to Eddie Jones' men to adapt to that during the match. 

Jones' would have done his homework on Italy and will have equipped his side with the necessary tools to counter O'Shea. 

Although this may seem like a battle between David and Goliath it might be closer than one might think depending on the depth of David's armory.

Prediction: Both coaches are both gifted tacticians but Jones' box of tricks is likely to contain enough to comfortably beat O'Shea.