| Italy: (17) 24 |
| Attempt: Garbisi, Alan, Ioane Cons: Alan 2, P Garbisi pen: Alan |
| England: (14) 27 |
| Attempt: mitchell daly Cons: ford pen: ford 5 |
England came back with a dominant second half and started their Six Nations campaign with victory in Italy.
Alex Mitchell's try after the interval overturned a narrow lead, before George Ford's strike put England back in contention.
The Azzurri threatened to deny the visitors their first win against England, with goals from Alessandro Garbisi and Tommaso Allan for Elliot Daly.
Monti Ioane scored a late equalizer to earn Italy a defeat bonus point in what was their smallest defeat against England.
Steve Borthwick's England are far from their fluent best, but victory in Rome took them into second place and ended a run of four straight opening Six Nations defeats.
Jamie George captained the side for the first time and head coach Borthwick also made his first five-game debut for England since 2012, when seven players earned their first caps against Scotland.
Fraser Dingwall, who won the Man of the Match award, and Ethan Roots had a good start from the start, before Finn Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and Immanuel Fay-Waboso started their Test careers on the bench. Made an impression.
Next Saturday, England host Wales in the second leg at Twickenham, while the Azzurri travel to defending champions Ireland the following afternoon.
More to come.
lineup
Italy: Alan; Pani, Brex, Menoncello, Ioane. P Garbisi, A Garbisi. Fischetti, Lucchesi, Ceccarelli, N. Cannone, Luzza, Negri, Ramaro (captain), L. Cannone.
Replacement: Nicotera, Spagnolo, Girocchi, Zambonin, Izekol, Zuliani, Varny, Mori
England: Steward; Freeman, Slade, Dingwall, Daly. Ford, Mitchell. Marler, George (captain), Stuart, Itoje, Chetham, Roots, Underhill, Earl.
Replacement: Dunn, Obano, Cole, Coles, Cunningham-South, Care, F. Smith, Fay-Waboso.
