Brush with law
skated over from a tap penalty, while Daly finished England’s sharpest move of the match up to that point, scorching through after a toxic combination of the power of Haskell and Courtney Lawes, and the finesse of George Ford.
With Care starting to fizz in his first Test start for a year, it was odd that coach Eddie Jones chose to remove him with half an hour to go.
The momentum England had belatedly built dissipated again and Italy came right back into it with Exeter’s Michele Campagnaro bringing them to within two points after smashing Ford out of the way to score a fine individual try.
With Allan receiving treatment after what Italy claimed was a late shoulder, Edoardo Padovani was handed the responsibility of landing the equalising conversion but, in swirling conditions, could not do so.
The unease within the England ranks was underlined when Farrell, who had by then taken over as captain from the departed Hartley, chose to take a penalty shot at goal rather than chase the bonus-point try with 14 minutes left. He missed.
The game was in the balance and remained so after a wonderful sliding tackle from Allan’s replacement Carlo Canna that would not have disgraced Fabio Cannavaro in his prime, taking the ball from Daly’s fingers just before the line.
But the killer blow came in the 70th minute when Jack Nowell secured that allimportant fourth try from fellow replacement Jamie George’s pass after England exploited a yawning overlap on the right.
Another try from Te’o two minutes later after Kyle Sinckler’s burst up the middle put the game out of sight and Nowell added some undeserved gloss with his second with a minute left.
Job done? Yes. But in terms of England’s ability to solve problems on the hoof it provided more questions than answers.
ENGLAND Tries: Cons: ITALY – Tries: DG: – Con: