RBS Six Nations: Nervous England squeeze past determined Italy to register second win

Italy (6) 12
England (6) 17

England ground out a narrow 17-12 win in Rome on Sunday - their first away victory under manager Martin Johnson - but they were pushed to the final whistle by a typically dogged Italian performance.

In the end Mathew Tait's second-half try proved to be the decisive score, with all of the game's other points collected by the boots of Mirco Bergamasco (four pens) and Jonny Wilkinson (three pens and a conversion).

England weren't as fluid as they had been in last weekend's opening 30-17 home win against Wales, but with two victories from two Johnson will be satisfied enough, despite being pushed to the wire by a team they had beaten in all previous 15 meetings.

The Red Rose outfit began in positive fashion and almost had a first-minute try when full-back Delon Armitage narrowly lost out in the race to touch down after a delicate chip and chase, but after that the game settled into a more attritional contest.

Wilkinson eventually gave England the lead with the first of his three penalties, although two subsequent misses before the 20-minute mark scuppered the visitors' hopes of pulling clear. It also allowed Bergamasco the opportunity to first level up for the hosts, and then give Italy a 6-3 lead when he slotted his second penalty before half time.

A rare England counter-attack led by Riki Flutey and Armitage then set up Wilkinson to draw the scores level shortly before the interval, before Nick Easter, Ugo Monye and Armitage (again) then found a way for Tait to score the game's only try soon after the restart.

Wilkinson's wonky radar saw him miss the conversion - his third failure of the afternoon - but a subsequent close range penalty (on 58 minutes) did allow the Toulon fly-half to further extend England's lead to 14-6 as they looked to close out the game.

Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni was sin-binned in the same incident, but rather than fall further behind the home team then managed to close the gap when Bergamasco's third penalty success brought them back to within five points.

The Stade Francais player ensured further palpitations among the England camp when his fourth penalty raised hopes of an historic win, but Wilkinson's late drop-goal was enough to seal the result, leaving the visitors with a chance (albeit slim on this performance) of going for the Grand Slam.

Unlike France however - who beat Ireland 33-10 on Saturday - no-one in the England camp is yet talking up that possibility, preferring instead to notch up the victories in whichever way they can as the squad tries to acclimatize itself to the mere fact of winning, which has been something of a rarity in itself during the Johnson era.

The manager admitted afterwards to being "frustrated" by England's performance, especially in managing just one try. "We created some really good try-scoring chances but didn't finish them off," he lamented.

"When we counter-attacked there were opportunities and a few more we didn't go for. I'm frustrated because there were tries out there to score but we only took one. When there's not enough pressure that gives teams the opportunity to establish themselves in the game.

"When we countered we were good, but there were probably more opportunities, in both halves. We were trying to play but the breakdown was tough for us," Johnson told the BBC.

Italy coach Nick Mallett was in more bullish mood, praising his team for their improved showing after last week's 29-11 defeat in Ireland.

"There wasn't a lot in the game and it's a good thing our players are disappointed. Before they would have been happy about coming so close against England. If we continue to develop like this we can do great things at next year's World Cup," he said.