England kickstarted their Six Nations campaign with a routine 33-0 bonus-point win over Italy in Rome on Sunday.

The win saw England bounce back from their opening round loss to Scotland and draw level on points with second-placed Ireland.

It was far from a slick performance from England as they played in fits and starts against an Italy team that was making very basic errors on defence.

It was an ominous start to the match for the hosts as England raced into a 14-0 lead within the opening 20 minutes through tries from Marcus Smith and Jamie George.

With England dominating possession and territory, Italy were somewhat fortunate to only be 21-0 down at the break, as Maro Itoje had a try disallowed before George went over for his second try just before half-time.

At the half-time mark, England had 69% possession to Italy’s 31% and spent a total of three minutes and 37 seconds in Italy’s 22 compared to the hosts spending a meagre 22 seconds in England’s 22.

It took just four minutes into the second half for England to wrap up the four-try bonus-point when Smith put Elliot Daly over from a five-metre scrum. That score in itself was a demonstration of Italy’s current defensive issues as Smith had far too much time and Daly was left completely unmarked to get the pass and run in over the tryline.

To give Italy some credit they took the game to England from there and started spending far more time in opposition territory, even if they struggled to break the visitors down once they hit the 22-metre area.

However, England added further gloss to the scoreline when tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler forced his way over in the final 10 minutes of the match.

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