England scored seven tries to see off Italy 47-24 in a one-sided Six Nations encounter at Twickenham on Sunday.
Tries were run in by Tom Willis, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme (2), Marcus Smith, Tom Curry and Ben Earl, with Fin Smith sending over 12 points.
However, a serious injury to Ollie Lawrence that left him in a protective boot will concern head coach Steve Borthwick ahead of next week’s meeting against Wales in Cardiff.
Ange Capuozzo, Ross Vintcent and Tommaso Menoncello crossed for Italy but they will be hugely disappointed at how they fell apart in the second 40, this after a good start.
The opening period was wonderfully entertaining as both sides threw caution to the wind in welcome March sunshine as those in attendance were treated to five first-half tries.
England struck first as early as the third minute when a break down the right wing from Freeman saw him offload to Tom Curry before the recycled ball saw Willis dive over.
However, joy turned to despair soon after when star centre Lawrence departed the action after dropping to the ground off the ball with what appeared to be an Achilles injury.
Italy would respond to the break in play the better as two chip kicks over the top, the first from Paolo Garbisi and second from Monty Ioane, found Capuozzo, who raced over.
7-7 could easily have been 10-7 to Italy on 23 minutes but Garbisi was wayward with his penalty attempt and England would make them pay soon after down the other end.
The hosts went close and felt aggrieved when Earl was tackled in a maul, but a minute later a kick in behind from Elliot Daly led to Freeman getting there first for his score.
But Italy once again struck back in style with full-back Capuozzo involved, this time scorching through a tiny hole on halfway before finding Vintcent who raced over to level.
The end-to-end nature of the match continued on 35 minutes though when England went wide left to where Sleightholme was in space and he sprinted over to make it 21-14.
Italy did manage to reduce the arrears before half-time courtesy of a Garbisi penalty and would have been pleased with their efforts going in for a rest just four points adrift.
However, England came out for the resumption in scintillating form as a quick-fire double from Marcus Smith and Tom Curry moved them up to a 35-17 lead on 47 minutes.
That became 42-17 six minutes later when slick handling from Maro Itoje and Jamie George set Sleightholme up for his brace and Fin Smith slotted the tough touchline extras.
There was then a lull in the fixture as England had the result and try bonus point safely wrapped up and rang the changes with the 100-cap George one of those departing.
That drought would end on the 71st minute when Martin Page-Relo found Menoncello for Italy’s third try but Ben Curry sent Earl over late on as England had the last say.
The teams
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Ben Curry, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Marcus Smith
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Monty Ioane, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Lorenzo Cannone, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Tommaso Allan
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
