England survives Italy scare to keep Grand Slam dream alive
TWICKENHAM: England kept their hopes of back-to-back Grand Slams alive with a 36-15 victory over Italy at Twickenham on Sunday but only after being given a massive scare by the game Azzurri.
In a week where Italy’s place in the Six England’s Nations had been repeatedly called into question following their 63-10 thrashing by Ireland last time out, they defied all pre-match predictions to lead 10-5 at half-time.
And even when England recovered to go 17-10 up early in the second half, Italy center Michele Campagnaro’s try on the hour mark cut the hosts’ advantage to 17-15.
Had Italy, who saw fly-half Tommaso Allan miss three penalties and fullback Edoaardo Padovanni be off target with a conversion, landed all their goalkicks they might even have been celebrating a famous win.
Instead England recorded their 23rd victory in as many Tests against Italy, but only after two late tries from replacement back Jack Nowell and one from center Ben Te’o finally put the result beyond doubt.
The win was also England’s 17th in a row — just one shy of New Zealand’s all-time record for a tier one nation of 18 successive Test victories.
England found themselves frustrated at the ruck and captain Dylan Hartley told ITV: “We’re full of respect for them today and they proved very difficult to break down.
“We wanted to play quicker down at the ruck. I was confused by it. The guys adapted well, we took the game line. We found a way.
“Their mauling threat is huge and we conceded way too many penalties.”
Italy kept the game scoreless until the 24th minute when England prop Dan Cole was driven over for an unconverted try.