A second-half try from Alex Mitchell helped England come from behind to defeat Italy 27-24 and start their Six Nations campaign on a positive note in Rome on Saturday.
England were trailing 17-14 at the break after an impressive opening stanza from the Azzurri, who were playing their first game under new head coach Gonzalo Quesada.
But Mitchell’s try and the boot of George Ford eased Steve Borthwick’s men to the win, with Elliot Daly having crossed in the first half while Ethan Roots proved a handful.
Alessandro Garbisi, Tommaso Allan and Monty Ioane scored the hosts’ tries, with Allan and Paolo Garbisi kicking extras, as the Azzurri‘s drought against England continues.
New Zealand-born blindside flanker Roots was named Player of the Match in Rome after shining on his England Test debut with a rugged performance in the six jersey.
As promised by new captain Jamie George, the favourites played with greater freedom, and there was less kicking than in the first year of Borthwick’s reign, at least until the focus switched to grinding Italy down in the final half-hour.
But overall, the more exciting rugby was played by the Azzurri, who showed ingenuity and ambition in their pursuit of a maiden victory against their rivals, and their second try scored by Allan was a beauty.
New caps Roots, Fraser Dingwall, Fin Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, brought a freshness to England, who ended their four-year stretch of beginning the Six Nations with a defeat, but the initial outlook was far less rosy.
They lost replacement prop Ellis Genge to a foot injury shortly before kick-off, and that was only the start of their problems as early enterprise from Italy engineered a try for Alessandro Garbisi.
It rewarded their brighter start and came when Lorenzo Cannone was sent through a gap, with Garbisi able to scoop up the offload.
With Allan and Ford exchanging penalties, the score read 10-3, but the deficit provided the jolt England needed as Freeman glided into space and delivered the scoring pass to Daly.
The try had been coming, but it was quickly overshadowed by a stunning riposte from Italy, whose precise passing and clever running off set-piece ball was executed beautifully for Allan to score.
Two penalties by Ford kept England snapping at the Azzurri’s heels at half-time, and they needed to regroup quickly, particularly in defence, to spare themselves an unwanted slice of history.
Reassurance came when Mitchell jinked and spun his way over the whitewash in the 45th minute, and for the first time, the visitors led.
Italy’s play now lacked its earlier precision, and they were pinned deep in their own half as England tightened the screw with Ford landing successive penalties to propel them 10 points ahead.
Handling errors cost the Azzurri time and again, and their line-out continued to malfunction in an exasperating period for the hosts that also saw Allan miss an important penalty.
Daly was sent to the sin-bin for a trip as Italy hunted the try that would haul them back into contention, but they were unable to produce any more magic as the upset slipped from their fingertips despite a last-gasp Monty Ioane touch down.
The teams
Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Andrea Zambonin, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Federico Mori
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Danny Care, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
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