After trailing at half-time England turned things around in the second half to muscle their way to a narrow 19-15 victory over Italy in freezing conditions in Rome on Saturday.

The cold and wet conditions played a big role in the cagey early exchanges as both teams looked to find their feet on the snowy pitch by kicking quite a lot.

The match sprung into life when the home side scored two quick tries just before the half-time break to take a 12-6 lead into the changerooms, and there were high hopes that the Azzurri would be able to hang on and record their first-ever victory over England.

The first try was a good piece of opportunism as right wing Giovanbattista Venditti slid over in the corner after he had snapped up a loose ball that had bounced off Ben Foden's chest after a Tommaso Benvenuti grubber in the 22.

Foden and Benvunuti were in the thick of the action again minutes later when the England fullback tried to push a streaky pass after running a deep kick back and being wrapped up in the tackle.

Benvunuti intercepted and raced clear to score under the poles, landing a crucial blow for his team on the stroke of half-time.

The home team stretched that lead shortly after the break through a penalty from the boot of flyhalf Kris Burton who was promptly replaced by Tobias Botes by coach Jacques Brunel.

That change seemed to signal a shift in the momentum as England came storming back into the game, playing some determined rugby and putting the pressure squarely back on the Italians' shoulders.

Flyhalf Charlie Hodgson scored his second charge-down try in two weeks, and that was followed up be a string of penalties from the steady boot of young Owen Farrell to deservedly retake the lead following a period of dominance.

The Azzurrie were not helped by the fact that Botes had a terrible time off the kicking tee, missing two vital shots at goal which would have brought his team right back into the contest.

England held on bravely in the end to secure a hard-fought victory over a fiery Italian side that fell just short of what would have been a famous win.

More to follow...

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries: Venditti, Benvenuti
Con: Burton
Pen: Burton

For England:
Try: Hodgson
Con: Farrell
Pens: Farrell 4

Teams:

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Mauro Bergamasco, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Luca Morisi.

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Ben Morgan, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Jordan Turner-Hall, 22 Mike Brown.

Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Neil Paterson (Scotland)
TMO: Tony Redmond (Ireland)