Captain Steve Borthwick has insisted England produced some “outstanding” rugby as they saw off Italy 17-12 to keep their RBS Six Nations hopes alive on Sunday (England 7/1 to win the Grand Slam with
Betfred).
England appeared to labour to a fairly unconvincing win in Rome to make it two wins out of two in the tournament so far but Borthwick was upbeat afterwards, describing Matthew Tait’s crucial try as “sensational”.
“I thought some of the stuff we did was outstanding,” said Borthwick following the win.
“We created chances, the try in the second half was sensational.”
Team manager Martin Johnson was also attempting to put a positive spin on the result and was just delighted to come away from Italy with the win.
“You play Italy over here and it is never easy,” he said.
“Scotland have lost here, Wales have lost here. I am happy to win but the guys knew they could have done better.”
Next up for England in the Six Nations is a clash with Ireland (currently 80/1 to finish bottom overall) a week on Saturday.