Jonny passes 1,000 in England triumph

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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.