Full-back Mike Brown scored two tries and Owen Farrell added 22 points to secure a 52-11 rout of Italy at the Stadio Olimpico and put England within sight of the Six Nations title on Saturday
England’s fourth win of the series put them top of the table ahead of Ireland’s clash against France in Paris later where a French victory could hand England the title.
Vowing to concentrate on their own task of defending a 19-match unbeaten run against Italy, England produced a solid performance throughout and were rarely troubled by a supposedly formidable Italian pack or defence.
On the day, Italy simply didn’t show up and have finished the tournament winless and with the wooden spoon.
By half-time, Stuart Lancaster’s men had built a lead of 24-6 thanks notably to a pair of tries from Brown, one from Farrell and nine points from the boot of the England fly-half.
After the interval, Italy’s heads went down and although Leonardo Sarto touched over after intercepting a wayward pass from captain Chris Robshaw, further tries from Jack Nowell, Mako Vunipola, Manu Tuilagi and Robshaw, at the death, helped round out a well-deserved win.
After Lancaster praised his players for the “huge progress” they have made a year after an 18-11 win over Italy at Twickehnham, the coach admitted England just had to wait for the Ireland result in Paris.
“It’s an uncontrollable really for us so we can’t do much about it. Players don’t think like that. The Ireland players will be wanting to win the game in their own right,” he said.
“We’ll just go back to the hotel, get changed and get ready for our function.”
Lancaster, however, could not hide his joy at seeing his side put seven tries over the Italian try line.
“I’m delighted to get the win – seven tries in a game that we won 18-11 last year!
“Obviously we didn’t nail everything that we wanted to but overall I’m really proud of the boys.”
We’ve made “huge progress. We played this game last year and won 18-11 at Twickenham scoring six penalties”, added Lancaster.
“We’ve come here, I don’t think anyone’s won by this scoreline, on the back of a Sunday game against an opposition who took a lot of out the players emotionally and physically.
“It’s a young team with an average age of 24 so when you to put all those things into perspective I think we’ve made great progress.
“Plus we have quality additions to come back into our squad.”
England had shown the most promise in the early exchanges and added to Farrell’s score two minutes later when Brown touched down for the first of his two tries, with Farrell adding two for a seven-point lead from the conversion.
Italy were restriced to only one more penalty from the boot of Orquera as England produced surge after surge to crip defence capitulating when Danny Care sent Farrell, running through on the left, clear to touch down between the posts.
Farrell added two from the conversion.
Italy’s chances of taking anything from the match virtually ended two minutes before half-time when England won the line-out and their ball-handling skills did the rest with Brown swerving around two defenders before touching down for his second try.
Farrell maintained his 100 percent record with the boot for a 24-6 lead.
Italy showed some promise in the second half, but simply didn’t have the bite.
As England set up camp in the Italians’ 22, even Nowell got in on the act with his maiden England try, with Farrell adding two points with the boot.
Tuilagi replaced Burrell on 53 minutes and was a constant threat.
He had several Italy players around his ankles on the hour as he pushed for the try line, and that move led directly to England’s fifth try with Mako Vunipola touching over.
After Farrell added two with the boot to take England’s lead to 38-6, Tuilagi added a try of his own with Farrell adding an easy two points.
Italy bounced back thanks to Sarto, but it was all too little too late with Robshaw twisting the knife after collecting George Ford’s pass in front of the posts to touch down on 80 minutes, with Farrell taking his tally to 22 points with the conversion.
Italy coach Jacques Brunel admitted: “We’ve gone a step back in terms of our ambitions but also our capabilities.
“Today I saw the team were in difficulty in physical terms after 20-25 minutes. We have to seriously ask ourselves what our ambitions are and how we want to go about achieving them.”