He's Dunn waiting for now but will he return?

Tom Dunn made an impact, as impact players are meant to do, during his brief appearance in Rome as an England debutant, which amounted to a whole 64 seconds on the game clock plus a couple of extra minutes as the contest struggled to bring itself to a conclusion and dragged on towards the small hours in the modern way.

- CHRIS HEWETT

The Bath front rower performed his primary hooker’s duties with complete assurance; smashed enthusiastically into a couple of meaty Italian forwards as he drove upfield; did all the right things in latching and guarding; and topped things off with a shoulder-first ruck entry that almost sent Maro Itoje rocketing into Azzurri airspace.

All things considered, it was a promising introduction to international rugby: a strong statement of intent and a clear sign of more to come.

But having waited patiently for his first opportunity, will a second one materialise? Or will Dunn be cast into the circle of rugby hell populated by a handful of lost souls who were granted a single tantalising taste of Test rugby off the bench and then banished – talented players from earlier times who would have felt socially distanced, had social distancing been invented.

Luke Cowan-Dickie’s injury hassles have given Dunn a better shot at featuring again, but the fact remains: England coaches have been in the habit of handing out cheap caps for donkey’s years.

If you’re struggling to remember the Bristol prop Jason Hobson and his eight minutes of Test activity against New Zealand in Christchurch a little over a dozen years ago, you’re not alone. The Red Rose selectors forgot all about him too, almost before he had finished showering.