Steve Borthwick earned his first victory as England boss on Sunday with a convincing 31-14 win over Italy in the Six Nations at Twickenham.
Borthwick's side displayed a much-improved performance from their tournament-opening defeat against Scotland last week to earn a bonus point and rise to third in the standings. England have now beaten Italy in 24 consecutive Six Nations matches, a perfect run against the Azzurri.
"There was certainly positive steps forward, small steps forward," England head coach Borthwick said after the match. "I think credit to the players for working really hard to make those improvements. We're trying to rebuild this team and I think we've took some steps forward in that regard over these first few weeks.
"I thought we left some chances out there I think our ruck speed could have been better ... we stretched the defence more and our ruck speed slowed down. We've got to make sure we're consistently improving in that regard.
"Ultimately again we conceded some opportunities to the opposition late in the game. We'll look at why because that's two weeks running now."
After an initial spell of possession for Italy, England warmed into the match and opened the scoring on 12 minutes through energetic flanker Jack Willis.
England opted to kick a penalty into the corner and from the lineout, advanced in a maul to bundle the ball over the line with Willis taking the plaudits. Captain Owen Farrell, who was in at fly-half over usual staple Marcus Smith, made no mistake in converting.
Italy's forays into the hosts' 22 were largely stifled at source, though fullback Ange Capuozzo displayed his undoubted quality with some probing surges.
Lorenzo Cannone's sin-bin on 28 minutes sparked a swarm of attacks by Borthwick's side with Ollie Chessum able to capitalise to score England's second.
From a sea of bodies, Ellis Genge craftily laid off to lock Chessum who was able to dive through and over the line. Farrell again converted from close range.
The hosts continued to threaten, Jack Van Poortvliet raced through to spark Twickenham pandemonium but his impressive effort was ruled out for an obstruction in the lead-up.
However, the home side were not denied their third for long and Jamie George bundled over on 37 minutes to ensure England took full advantage of their extra man advantage.
Much less of an individual effort than Van Poortvliet's chalked off try, George trailed an advancing maul before placing down to take England's lead to 19, though Farrell failed to convert from a tight angle.
Italy responded within four minutes of the second half to cut England's lead with Marco Riccione clawing the ball over.
Capuozzo's industry again helped Italy get forward before they swung left and Riccione burst into space to place just over the line before Tommaso Allan converted.
But England recovered as Italy illegally infringed on their maul on 50 minutes resulting in a penalty try to make the score 26-7 and secure Borthwick's side a bonus point. Simone Ferrari was penalised with a 10-minute timeout.
Tommaso Menoncello's burst into England's 22 set up replacement scrum-half Alessandro Fusco to reduce Italy's deficit with a 63rd-minute try which Allan converted as Kieran Crowley's side began to look more comfortable.
However, after settling from the pressure, replacement Henry Arundell ran over to put Borthwick's first victory as England boss beyond doubt. Fly-half Farrell could not add a further two-point cushion, though, as his conversion came crashing off the right post.
"We always knew England were going to come out and be very direct. they put us under a lot of pressure, caught us behind advantage line a lot of the time," Italy head coach Kieran Crowley said. "They were able to kick to the corner and got their driving maul going. It's extinctive, we just about handled it as well as we could've done."
With a victory under their belt, England will face a winless Wales next at the Principality Stadium on Feb. 25.
