England have shown mental fortitude in defence, but if they want to be world No1 we need to see more attacking prowess

England scaled new heights in many ways against Wales in Cardiff. They were up against it, on the ropes getting battered, but had the mental fortitude to answer those questions. What they need to show now is greater attacking prowess.

That offensive flair, which was so apparent during the autumn with the number of free-flowing tries they scored, has been missing in the Six Nations. I would love to see more adventure in their play and I think we will witness that against Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.

Looking at the performances against France and Wales, if they were at the World Cup against the likes of New Zealand or Australia, England would have lost both matches.

If Eddie Jones’s side want to reach the dizzy heights of No1 in the world rankings then their defence, which has been outstanding, needs complementing by accurate, precise attack. If the opportunity comes, they need to score – that’s non-negotiable.

I’m not surprised that centre Jonathan Joseph has been dropped from the squad. The 25-year-old was very impressive in the autumn but has been pretty average in the Six Nations and below the standards he has set.

He’s not been poor or disastrous, just okay, and if you want to be the No1 team in the world then you have to perform to an incredibly high standard every match. Scrum-half Ben Youngs also falls into that category.

I’m confident we’ll see changes against the Azzurri. I believe Danny Care, Anthony Watson, James Haskell, Jamie George and Ben Te’o will all start, perhaps also Mako Vunipola at loosehead prop.

Worcester’s Te’o, who came off the bench to score a vital try against France earlier this month, would provide England with a really physical presence in the middle. He’s direct, which in turn could liberate space for whoever is playing in the back three.

It would also give George Ford, assuming he retains his place in the XV and is not rotated, another option. He will be encouraged to play if he’s got Owen Farrell, another distributor at No12, and then Te’o, the hard-hitting physical midfielder outside of him.

All in all, I believe we will see more attacking intent from England this weekend against Italy, who have been nothing but poor so far and took an absolute pasting against Ireland in Rome during the last round of fixtures.

Italy head coach Conor O’Shea and skipper Sergio Parisse, however, will be reeling and be demanding an intense performance and display which is worthy of the Six Nations.

There is much debate about whether Italy should be replaced at the tournament by Georgia, who have climbed above them in the world rankings, or if organisers could introduce a system of relegation and promotion.

Italy will want a strong showing to demonstrate they are worthy of a place and in some respects England are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Many people will be expecting a cricket score. England will definitely win, and I’m going for 45-12.

Ollie Phillips is a former England Sevens captain and now a director at PwC, focusing on organisational, cultural and technological change.