Borthwick: We looked so clunky
Italy 24 England 27 ENGLAND boss Steve Borthwick admitted his side were not at the races as they limped past Italy – but it could have been much worse.
This was the closest Italy have ever come to beating England with Borthwick’s side hanging on at the end.
They have never lost to Italy in 31 games, but it was too close for comfort for the 30,000-plus travelling fans.
A mad last few minutes saw Elliot Daly sin-binned for a trip, and Italian winger Monty Ioane being given the freedom of Rome by the English defence, who simply waved him through.
That was the Italians’ third score, earning them a bonus point, and if the game had any time left you would have fancied them finishing England off.
Borthwick (right) said: “There are plenty of areas that need to be better.
“There are certainly positives to pull out of it, but it looked clunky in bits... It looked like a team which only had three training sessions together.
“You are always looking for change. There are certainly things to be improved and we got exposed by an Italian team that moves the ball well, but we will improve on that next week.
“We will learn fast. You’ve got to remember that this Italy side, in this opening fixture last year, almost beat France.
“There were very few points in it, and I think many people afterwards thought they should have beaten France that day.
“They very nearly beat Scotland. They beat Australia two years ago.
“We were 27-17 up at 80 minutes, sat on the opposition goal-line. We’re disappointed that they scored that last try, but 27-17 would have been a good result.”