Jonathan Joseph scored two tries as England thrashed Italy 47-17 at Twickenham on Saturday.
After their impressive win against Wales in Cardiff, England were expected to put a big score past a team ranked 14th in the world. They did, even though it took them a while to get going.
It was Italy who drew first blood, in the third minute, after stealing an England lineout. Luca Morisi made good ground down the right and a few phases later, Sergio Parisse threw a dummy and powered over the tryline.
It took England 19 minutes to get on the scoreboard, when George Ford kicked a penalty, but they scored two tries in the space of three minutes through Billy Vunipola and Jonathan Joseph. The first was controversial, as the No 8 didn't appear to ground the ball, but there were no doubts about the second, with the outside centre stepping past Kelly Haimona and throwing a dummy before going over to make it 15-5.
Ford slotted a penalty early in the second half, and while Italy would score two second-half tries through Morisi, it was England who were dominant.
Ben Youngs scored from a quick-tap penalty, Joseph grabbed his second, and Danny Cipriani and Nick Easter marked their Test returns with tries.
England – Tries: Billy Vunipola, Jonathan Joseph (2), Ben Youngs, Danny Cipriani, Nick Easter. Conversions: George Ford (3), Cipriani. Penalties: Ford (3).
Italy – Tries: Sergio Parisse, Luca Morisi (2). Conversion: Tommaso Allan.
England – 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 James Haskell, 5 George Kruis, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Nick Easter, 20 Tom Croft, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
Italy – 15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Andrea Masi, 11 Giovambattista Venditti, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Francesco Minto, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 George Fabio Biagi, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Subs: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Samuela Vunisa, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giulio Bisegni.
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
