At last! Freeman and Borthwick reasons to

THIS was not England winning in style in Rome, and getting the crowd on its feet, but it was a landmark of sorts. 

- NICK CAIN

It was the first Red Rose opening round Six Nations victory after four years of successive first-match defeats, as an England side featuring five uncapped players eventually squeezed home after a much improved second half at the Stadio Olimpico.

It came thanks to a try after the break by Alex Mitchell, to add to a first-half touchdown by Elliot Daly, and a rat-tat-tat of penalties off the tee which gave George Ford the 17-point goal-kicking haul that saw England edge it, despite being outscored three tries to two by the Italians.

It was Italy’s narrowest defeat by England, and it highlighted the eternal truth that offensive defence is a match-winner, because, after being rattled to the core by an Italian attack which created sparkling first-half tries for young scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi and full-back Tommy Allan, the visitors tightened their loose defensive bolts.

They did it by playing with the second-half rigour required to turn the tables after trailing 17-14 at the break, and there is the strong sense that Felix Jones, the World Cup-winning Springbok assistant coach who is now in charge of England’s defence, will have cracked the whip.

A backline in which the returning Henry Slade and his equally experienced colleague, Daly, were at sixes and sevens in the first half was transformed after the break with Slade, in particular, using his long kicking to peg Italy back, and leading a rush defence which put the clamps on the Azzurri attack.

Even so, England still conceded a late solo try to Monty Ioane which gave the home side a deserved losing bonus point. It showed that there is copious room for improvement in this partially reconstructed England side, but what was also apparent was that head coach Steve Borthwick has talented new players on which to build a competitive outfit.