England 47-24 Italy
by David Nicholson 
at Twickenham

ENGLAND move above Ireland into second place on points difference in their quest to win the Six Nations championship after beating Italy at Twickenham today.

The men in white are the only side the Azzurri have not beaten in the Six Nations and didn’t look close to an upset as England build a commanding score.

Ireland travel to Rome next Saturday and should beat Italy by a big enough margin to overhaul the seven-points difference England built with this victory.

The home side had the majority of the possession in the opening 20 minutes after an early try settled the Twickenham nerves.

Centre Ollie Lawrence went off in the eighth minute with what looked like a serious knee injury and replacement Marcus Smith was cheered onto the pitch by the Twickenham faithful.

England’s backline was reshuffled with the oncoming Smith going to full back and Daly to the centre.

England’s forwards made the hard yards towards the Italian line when the Azzurri stole the ball to relieve the pressure.

Italy struck back in a rare attack and a delightful chip forward was retrieved by Italy’s full back Ange Capuozzo to level the scores.

Italy could have taken the lead but fly half Paulo Garbisi missed an easy penalty.

The home side finally ran the ball through hands and a perfectly weighted kick by Fin Smith was picked up and scored by a delighted Tommy Freeman.

Anything England can do, the Italians can do better as fullback Capuozzo broke from within his own half bursting though a flailing English defence, the ball was passed to back row Ross Vincent whose turn of speed compounded 

Marcus Smith’s on-pitch nightmare to level the scores.

But atoning for his error, the English fullback threw a long accurate pass for Ollie Sleightholme to take back the lead.

English ill-discipline gave the grateful Azzurri a penalty in front of the posts to narrow England’s lead to four points at half time.

Marcus Smith was overjoyed when he stepped inside two Italians to score a fine try and gained a fourth try bonus point for Borthwick’s men.

Within minutes, a rampaging English rolling maul broke play up and a grateful Tom Curry scored the home side’s fifth try.

Captain Maro Itoje played basketball style rugby to move the ball through the tackle, allowing Sleightholme to score his second try near the touchline.

England conceded a soft try in the last 10 minutes, which will blunt their slim championship pretensions.

Despite this victory, England’s attack is a blunt cudgel not a rapier with forwards running into an obdurate Italian defence.

Head coach Steve Borthwick talks about his side developing a fluid attacking game but the message is either not reaching his players, or the coaching team is failing.

England travel to Cardiff next Saturday to take on a resurgent Welsh side and they will need to raise their attacking game if they are to stay in the mix to win an unlikely championship or even become runners up.