England struggle against Italy

Italy 19 England 23:Jonny Wilkinson clocked up 1,000 points for England as he guided the World Cup finalists through a hazardous Italian job and revived their 6 Nations campaign.

Fly-half superstar Wilkinson, slammed in several quarters for his poor performance during the Twickenham implosion against Wales last weekend, booted three penalties and converted early tries by wing Paul Sackey and centre Toby Flood.

England, though, were almost guilty of another calamitous collapse.

Having blown a 19-6 advantage to lose by seven points against Wales, this time Italy threatened to wipe out a 20-6 interval lead.

Substitute scrum-half Simon Picone's late try — he charged down a kick by Wilkinson's replacement Danny Cipriani — plus 14 points from full-back David Bortolussi ensured a tense finale.

England did just enough, even if their performance did nothing to alarm tournament favourites France, England's next Six Nations opponents in Paris on Saturday week.

England prevailed, despite losing six players — Phil Vickery, Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Andrew Sheridan, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees — through injury or illness.

Vickery was the latest withdrawal, being laid low by a stomach bug that meant Bath lock Steve Borthwick captained England for the first time and Matt Stevens packed down in the front-row.

England threatened to emphatically brush off those setbacks by claiming well-worked tries during the opening 15 minutes for Sackey and Flood, both after Wilkinson delivered the scoring pass.

But the floodgates didn't open, and England fell way short of maintaining their 46 points per game average for the fixture in Rome.

England head coach Brian Ashton will be satisfied with the win, yet the performance dipped markedly at half-time as the visitors once again took their collective foot off the pedal.

Had Italy possessed more attacking flair and invention behind the scrum, it might have proved a different story and they could have celebrated a famous victory.

England though, hung on to at least give their Six Nations season a flicker of hope, even if title aspirations — on current evidence — remain a distant dream.

England, given all their injury problems, needed a steady start against a fired-up Italian side.

And Wilkinson inevitably provided it, gathering his own kick in space and then sending Sackey sprinting clear to the line for a brilliantly conceived and executed try.

Wilkinson nonchalantly landed the touchline conversion, and although Bortolussi replied by booting a long-range penalty, England could feel pleased with the initial flurries.

Italy though, were quick to use their forwards, and when wing Lesley Vainikolo was penalised for not releasing possession inside his own 22, Bortolussi kicked the three points.

It was a timely reminder to England of Italy's threat in the game, but the visitors came up trumps with a second try on 15 minutes.

Centre Jamie Noon charged down Bortolussi's attempted clearance, and when he found Wilkinson in support, Noon's midfield partner Flood looped around cleverly to claim his second touchdown in successive Six Nations Tests.

Wilkinson's conversion brought up his 1,000 points, and England led 14-6 before Bortolussi drifted a drop-goal attempt wide.

Wilkinson then booted two penalties as half-time approached, keeping a disappointing Italian side comfortably at bay and building the platform for an
emphatic success.

England needed to ease back into their first-half rhythm, but a third Bortolussi penalty set the tone for a second period that Italy "won".