Charlie Hodgson’s second charge-down try in as many Six Nations matches proved decisive in Rome as England secured a hard-fought win over Italy.
Amid freezing conditions in the Stadio Olimpico, Stuart Lancaster’s side found themselves six points behind as the Azzurri punished English handling errors with two tries in as many minutes at the end of the first period.
However, after Italy fly-half Kris Burton was withdrawn immediately after stretching his side’s lead to 15-6 with a penalty in the 46th minute, England seized control of the match.
Within three minutes the Red Rose were well and truly back in the game as Hodgson charged down Andrea Masi’s attempted clearance before collecting the bobbling ball and trotting over to score.
Saracens centre Owen Farrell made an excellent conversion, before knocking over two penalties to give England a four-point lead.
Italy had the chance to snatch victory with two late penalties, but replacement outside-half Tobias Botes endured a nightmare with the boot and squandered both.
England dominated territory and possession in the early stages but with snow making attacking rugby difficult, the game remained scoreless well in the second half of the first period.
Phil Dowson thought he had opened the scoring after 26 minutes, but referee Jerome Garces had already blown for a penalty against Italy captain Sergio Parisse.
Farrell stepped up and made no mistake though to put the visitors into the lead, before adding a further penalty 10 minutes later.
England appeared to be well in control of the match at that stage but with handling proving tricky in the icy conditions, Lancaster’s side, and Ben Foden in particular, were made to pay for two errors in as many minutes at the end of the first period.
First the Northampton full-back failed to deal with a bouncing ball and the rebound fell to Italian right-wing Giovanbattista Venditti, who had the simple task of scampering over from close range.
Burton missed a tough conversion to leave England in the lead, but on the stroke of half-time the home side were in front as Tommaso Benvenuti scored an expertly taken breakaway try.
Again it was Foden who erred as the full-back’s offload fell nicely for the Azzurri centre to collect and sprint under the posts. Burton this time made no mistake and Italy were 12-6 in front.
The fly-half extended the lead with six minutes of the second period gone, but he was clearly unhappy as that proved to be his last contribution to the game.
Hodgson, who had helped turn the tide against Scotland seven days earlier when he charged down Dan Parks to score, was at it again in the 49th minute in Rome as he raced to block a Masi punt before touching down.
With Farrell staying cool to kick England into the lead, replacement fly-half Botes buckled with two woeful late penalty attempts that could have given Italy a memorable win. The first was pushed well to the right, while he scuffed the second horribly.
England won’t mind though and they will welcome Wales to Twickenham in two weeks with confidence building.
