England too strong for Italy

Italy offered nothing in opposition and England ran in five tries after Andy Goode had opened the scoring after just 95 seconds with his first Test try.

Scrum-half Harry Ellis scored once in each half, Riki Flutey added England's third and Mark Cueto rounded off the afternoon with a try in the corner. Italy were poor but managed a consolation score for Mirco Bergamasco.

The visitors' experiment at playing flanker Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half backfired spectacularly.

Bergamasco lasted just 40 minutes before he was replaced, and by then he had directly gifted Flutey his first Test try and England were 22-6 ahead.

Goode marked his return to the international stage after two years out with a clever try but did little to suggest he is the long-term answer at fly-half.

Ellis impressed in the number nine jersey with his brace, and Cueto deserved his touchdown following a hard-working display.

James Haskell blotted an eye-catching performance with another sin-binning, just before the interval for a trip on Gonzalo Canale, but in a match against such limited opposition it was never going to cost England.

It did, however, bring their discipline into sharper focus, particularly as Shane Geraghty followed him in the second half. England have had six players sin-binned in two Tests.

Nevertheless, it was a win and in many ways that was everything Martin Johnson was after following England's hat-trick of autumn defeats.