England break 6N duck against Azzurri

England 39 Italy 7

England broke their RBS 6 Nations points duck by smashing fellow wooden spoon contenders Italy at Twickenham.

The horse had already bolted in terms of England’s opening three championship defeats against Wales, France and Ireland.

And although the world champions produced some attractive rugby on occasions - notably through recalled full-back Iain Balshaw and try hat-trick star Mark Cueto – there was an inevitably muted air at English rugby headquarters.

England outscored the Azzurri 6-1 on tries – wing Cueto (3), Balshaw, hooker Steve Thompson and substitute flanker Andy Hazell touching down – yet fly-half Charlie Hodgson had another miserable goalkicking experience, landing just three from seven attempts.

Sale Sharks speedster Cueto has now scored seven tries in seven Tests, arguably proving the shining light of Robinson’s reign.

Veteran scrum-half Alessandro Troncon scored a try for the visitors, converted by full-back Gert Peens, but Italy are now resigned to finishing bottom of the championship unless they can cause a monumental upset by defeating title contenders France in Rome next Saturday.

England’s last game is a Calcutta Cup appointment with Scotland at Twickenham, and the autumn Tests against New Zealand, Australia and Samoa now cannot come soon enough for head coach Andy Robinson in terms of building towards the world champions’ 2007 Webb Ellis Trophy defence.

England were not seriously tested by Italy, who still have not won away from home in the Six Nations, and Robinson was able to use all seven of his substitutes, including awarding debuts to Leicester fly-half Andy Goode, who kicked the final conversion, and Bath prop Duncan Bell.

It was England’s 11th win from 11 starts against Italy, and staved off them equalling their worst run of championship results in one campaign since 1976.

Confidence levels, though, still appeared low, despite the promptings of a capacity 75,000 Twickenham crowd.