With the point of the offensive bonus on this match, in addition to the defensive bonus obtained against Scotland, England is placed with six units in third place in the standings, behind Ireland and Scotland which have ten.
Italy, fifth with one point, is ahead of Wales, dead last with zero points.
France is interspersed in fourth place with five points.
As against Scotland, England relied mainly on the physical challenge against an opponent ill-equipped to find the response, but this success is unlikely to reassure the doubters much.
After ten minutes of getting started, the first real penetrating group well led gave England its first try by Jack Willis (7-0, 13th).
England's second line Maro Itoje charges on Italy's prop Danilo Fischetti in the Six Nations Tournament on February 12, 2023 at Twickenham © Glyn KIRK / AFP
But they had to wait for a numerical superiority, after a yellow card against Lorenzo Cannone (26th) to make the hole thanks to a new test in force, from Ollie Chessum (14-0, 27th).
The third, shortly before the break and signed by pillar Jamie George, was just as unspectacular (19-0, 37th), but still a little more than that of penalty, obtained after an Italian had voluntarily collapsed, in desperation, a maul who was only one meter from the in-goal (26-7, 50th).
A nice cross race from Alex Mitchell, before using Henry Arundell for a corner try (31-14, 70th), will have shown that England have players capable of something other than winning showdowns.
But the two tries conceded by Marco Riccioni (19-7, 43rd) and Alessandro Fusco (26-14, 63rd) showed that the XV de la Rose remains vulnerable against a team capable of quickly linking playing time and attack the intervals.
Two weeks from now, England, whose first victory since Steve Borthwick took charge of the team at the end of December, will look to confirm their progress against Wales in Cardiff, while Italy receive the formidable Ireland.
© 2023 AFP