Despite faltering display England crush Italy

England 40

England won 40-5, but the size of their success could not mask an often error-strewn display.

Woodward's men posted five tries during a blistering opening 21 minutes but then went almost 50 minutes without scoring another point.

Italy dominated much of the game in terms of possession, and England were never able to turn a 33-0 half time advantage into the points landslide a Twickenham full house expected.

Fullback Josh Lewsey, deputising for the injured Jason Robinson, took his chance superbly and scored two tries while there were also touchdowns for Mike Tindall, Dan Luger, James Simpson-Daniel and Steve Thompson.

Captain Jonny Wilkinson booted four conversions before going off injured early in the second half, while scrumhalf Matt Dawson also landed a conversion.

But once again there were fitness concerns for England. While Wilkinson is expected to recover quickly after being on the receiving end of a crunching collision, the prospects for his flyhalf replacement Charlie Hodgson are not so good.

Hodgson was on the field for just six minutes before suffering a knee problem, and Woodward said: "I think it is quite serious, it is not looking too good."

Despite the stop-start effort, England will clinch a clean sweep if they win their remaining fixtures against Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday week and then against Ireland in Dublin eight days later.

"It was a wonderful first 20 minutes, and I am very pleased with that," said Woodward. "I thought Josh Lewsey and Mike Tindall were outstanding, while Ollie Smith and Mike Worsley did well after going on for their first caps.

"After the first 20 minutes, though, we couldn't get the ball off the Italians. It is a strange game to analyse, and the dressing room was very quiet afterwards."

"But it is hats off to Italy. From 33-0 down, to dominate the rest of the game like they did was pretty impressive.

"We were never going to lose after the start we had, but the remaining 60 minutes probably overshadowed the first 20. We were not at our best.

"There was some fantastic rugby played in the first 20 minutes there is no doubt that the positives are there for us. Italy could have folded but they are a far better team than they were 12 months ago they have moved on tremendously well."

England assistant coach Andy Robinson said: identified the lineout as a key problem area for his team."The biggest problem we had is our lineouts didn't function as well as we would have liked.

"We could also keep the ball for only one or two phases, which meant we had a lot of defensive work to do and there were also lots of knock-ons and dropped passes."

England now have a week off before preparing to face Scotland, and on yesterday's evidence Woodward must hope some of his injured players will be available.

However well England played during the opening quarter, there was no hiding from the fact they sorely missed established names like Martin Johnson, Neil Back and Lewis Moody as the game wore on.

Woodward will take the victory and more importantly the points that come with it but unbeaten title rivals Ireland will surely fancy their chances at Lansdowne Road.

For his part, Italy coach John Kirwan praised the pride which enabled his team to battle their way back into the game after being blitzed by England in the opening stages.

"I thought they showed a lot of heart and commitment. It's a young side," he said.

But Kirwan admitted: "We cannot wait for 20 minutes until we start playing.

"We were getting too many people in at the contact point in the opening 20 minutes but we sorted that out and had more people ready for defence."

Kirwan expects England to go on and contest a Six Nations decider against Ireland in Dublin but he refused to predict the outcome for Clive Woodward's team.

He said: "I think Clive would be the opposite to me today. I think he would be very happy with the first 20 minutes but not the next 60."

ENGLAND: J Lewsey J Simpson-Daniel, W Greenwood, M Tindall, D Luger; J Wilkinson (capt), M Dawson; L Dallaglio, R Hill, J Worsley; B Kay, D Grewcock; R Morris, S Thompson, G Rowntree. Subs: C Hodgson, O Smith, S Shaw, M Worsley, M Regan, A Sanderson, K Bracken.

ITALY: Mi Bergamasco; N Mazzuccato, P Vaccari, G Raineri, D Dallan; R Pez , A Troncon (capt); M Phillips), A Persico, A de Rossi; M Giacheri, C Bezzi; R Martinez, C Festuccia, G de Carli. Subs used: L Castrogiovanni, M Bortolami, G Peens, M Mazzantini, S Palmer, F Ongaro, A Masi.

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland).