Rugby World Cup: It will take a good team to stop England - Conor O'Shea
- Published
Dominant England secure four-try win over Italy
Italy coach Conor O'Shea believes "the team that beats England will win the World Cup" after his side lost 37-0 to Eddie Jones' men in their final warm-up match before the tournament.
England scored four second-half tries at St James' Park to end their warm-up schedule with three wins in four games.
The 2003 winners face Tonga in their first Pool C game and O'Shea predicts England to win "comfortably".
"They can build into it before playing France and Argentina," he said.
"Obviously they have to get their best players on the pitch, but you look at the power and the confidence they have with Manu [Tuilagi] back to where he is, and they have so much game control at 10 or 12.
"It will take a good team to stop them but it is very open and five or six teams can do it."
Italy will play South Africa and defending champions New Zealand in Pool B after they begin their World Cup campaign against Namibia on 22 September.
"We play Namibia and Canada and then everybody will write us off," added O'Shea.
"But if we play with our best team, and with the sort of intensity we played with tonight, strange things may happen.
"You need a bit of luck but we have saved up a fair bit of that in the matches we have played in the last year or so.
"We will go there to win our first two and then hopefully shock somebody."