Jones eyes hat-trick as new boy Sam gets off to a flier

ENGLAND began their quest for an historic Six Nations title hat-trick with a romp in Rome.

It may have been no more than a gentle warm-up for the challenges to come, but seven tries, including one for Owen Farrell, who finished with 16 points, was an impressive start.

If they are still at the summit in seven weeks’ time, Eddie Jones’ side will have become the first team to win outright championships three seasons in a row. But England know it will not be as straightforward from now on.

And they will have to make history without the guidance of Ben Youngs, whose season could be over after he went off on a stretcher with a nasty leg injury in the 10th minute.

The scrum-half ’s loss did not knock the Red Rose out of their stride at the Stadio Olimpico as they picked off their opponents at will.

Man-of-the-match Anthony Watson crossed twice and so did No.8 Sam Simmonds, who proved on his Six Nations debut there is life beyond Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes after all.

No one carried more ball for England, no one made more metres with it and no one made more tackles.

Coach Jones said: “He’s a great discovery for us, he gives us great options at No.8.

“When the game opened up, he was in his element. He’s got gas. If he was a cricketer, he’d be playing T20.”

Despite scoring two tries of their own, Italy ended up on the wrong end of another heavy defeat against England.

They offered far more than in many of the previous encounters but their defence was a colander and England exploited it ruthlessly.

The visitors had a dream start as a slick wraparound move involving George Ford and Farrell put Watson in at the corner for a try after only two minutes 58 seconds.

As soon as play resumed after the long hold-up for the injury to Youngs, England produced a replica move for Watson to cross again.

The Italians were sparked into life and Tommaso Allan’s floated pass put Tommaso Benvenuti in for a try which had the crowd going crazy.

Normal service was soon resumed, though. With Italy’s defence at sixes and sevens, Farrell scooted through a big hole to score his sixth try in 54 Tests.

Despite looking like they could score every time they had the ball, England only led 17-10 at the interval.

But Simmonds put the outcome beyond doubt – and secured England’s tryscoring bonus point – in the 53rd minute when he found acres of space and used his pace to run in his first try for his country.

English video official Kitt Rowan allowed a dubious Italian try in the 58th minute