England beat Italy to give Borthwick first win as coach

England won their first match under coach Steve Borthwick as they overpowered Italy up front in a 31-14 Six Nations success at Twickenham on Sunday.

Italy's pack were unable to cope with England's driving maul from close-range line-outs, while recalled centre Ollie Lawrence repeatedly made inroads into the Azzurri defence.

Borthwick's reign had started with a 29-23 loss at home to Scotland last weekend in the first round of the tournament.

But on Sunday his side surged into a commanding 19-0 lead at half-time after tries by forwards Jack Willis, Ollie Chessum and Jamie George.

RECAP | Six Nations: England v Italy

"It is important for us to take a big step," man-of-the-match Lawrence told ITV. "It was my job to make sure we got over the gain-line."

He added: "We're nowhere near the finished product but we believe in where we're going as a team."

Italy, fresh from a creditable 29-24 defeat by reigning Six Nations champions France in Rome, arrived in London with genuine hope of a first win over England.

But instead they suffered a 30th defeat in as many matches between the two countries.

Marco Riccioni pulled a try back for Italy shortly after the break before another England line-out drive led to a penalty try and a yellow card for Azzurri replacement Simone Ferrari.

Italy were not finished though, with replacement scrum-half Alessandro Fusco, only on the field for a matter of seconds, going over for a 63rd-minute try after a break by wing Tommaso Menoncello.

But nine minutes from time, Henry Arundell put the result beyond doubt when he went over for a try following good work by fellow England replacement back Alex Mitchell.

Significant score for Willis

It took England 13 minutes to open the scoring.

Owen Farrell opted against going