England blitz Italy in record win

7:30 AM

ENGLAND 80 ITALY 23

LONDON - They came not so much to bury Italy as to praise England but in the event they did both.

The Red Rose Army took a while to display the full range of their arsenal but after the Italians had delivered a couple of stunning blows, England proceeded to reel off more records, scoring 10 tries.

It was a record score in the championship, a record winning margin and, for Jonny Wilkinson, a record total of 35 points.

Wilkinson, who scored 32 points against Italy here in the 1999 World Cup, exceeded that with a try, four penalties and nine conversions as the scoreline ran into Roman numerals, particularly in the second half when England rammed home their superiority with 47 points to nil. Had Wilkinson not missed the conversion of the last try – his only failure – he would have beaten the individual mark set by Paul Grayson with 36 points against Tonga.

It was nigh on a perfect day for a massacre, although the pitch looked like a patchwork eiderdown, and the tiny minority of Italian supporters here did not travel with optimism: they were carrying huge wooden spoons around the stadium before the start. Hope springs eternal but not, it seems, in the Eternal City.

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire since Italy's inaugural victory over Scotland last season continues its downward spiral.

Since Brad Johnstone, their New Zealand coach, left Fiji for Rome a couple of seasons ago, Italy's record is played 12, lost 10, won two. England, on the other hand, are playing a game in the Six Nations with which their opponents are unfamiliar.

Having scored six tries against Wales, they duly put Italy to the sword although it was by no means a perfect 10. Against initial fierce resistance, numerous passes failed to go to hand and when Italy attacked they did so with surprising results, revealing at times a soft underbelly to England's defence.

As Twickenham began to resemble an amphitheatre, England released their Lions, and once again Iain Balshaw's contribution was extremely impressive. The young full-back scored two tries, the second in the 75th minute an absolute gem.

Taking a flip pass from Austin Healey on his own 22 metre line, he spread-eagled the Italian defence with his blistering pace and change of direction to touch down at the posts. Christian Cullen eat your heart out. This was why Clive Woodward had switched the Bath wing to full-back and it looks as if he's going to run and run.

Despite his phenomenal goal-kicking Wilkinson did not have his finest half-hour before the interval. He made the mistake in the first minute of putting in a poor kick and paid for it when he ran headlong into Mauro Bergamasco. Wilkinson went down, the Italian did not and the stand-off took a while to recover.

Italy stunned the capacity crowd with a try in the fifth minute tidying up in mid-field before the left-wing Dennis Dallan, appearing on the right, beat Phil Vickery, Ben Cohen and Matt Dawson to crash over. Andrea Scanavacca's conversion made it 0-7 but if Wilkinson, not to mention England, were shaken, the stand-off's kicking remained in focus.

He kicked his first penalty after nine minutes – Italy conceded 23, England seven – and by half-time, when England led 33-23, had contributed 18 points. In between, just as the crowd in Cardiff had been silenced two weeks ago, there was a surreal atmosphere, imposed by the quality and spirit of the visitors' play.

England went ahead after 13 minutes when Lawrence Dallaglio and Balshaw exploited space on the right to send Healey in for the first of his two tries. Scanavacca, who was being treated for an injury while that try was scored, levelled with a penalty before Healey, who scored a hat-trick of tries in England's 59-12 victory in Rome last season, enjoyed a benefit of the doubt. Although being grounded short of the line in the first instance, he got over eventually and the video referee, Clayton Thomas, ruled it was good.

When Balshaw spilled a high ball from Christian Stoica, Andrea Muraro fed the No 8 Carlo Checchinato who went through Cohen for the touchdown and Scanavacca added the points to make it 17-17. A Scanavacca penalty meant that after 26 minutes Italy had the lead. It couldn't last of course and although the Azzurri's blue line never melted it became thinner and thinner.

After 34 minutes Healey, who was in his element, sent Balshaw over with a long pass and with Wilkinson applying his metronomic boot, England began to pull clear in the dying stages of the first half. The pattern was set for the second when Wilkinson and Dallaglio combined for Cohen to burst over at the posts.

The presence of Neil Back in the England three-quarter line did nothing for the momentum and Woodward began to make changes in the 49th minute. He replaced Back with Joe Worsley, Dorian West with Mark Regan and Cohen with Jason Robinson, who was winning his first cap.

They were inspired substitutions. Within a few minutes Regan had scored his first try for his country after Walter Pozzebon had been sent to the sin bin and with Italy down to 14 men, Worsley also got in on the act, rounding off a tremendous move, although the referee Stuart Dickinson added insult to Italy's injury by missing a blatant forward pass.

Robinson saw very little of the ball although when he received his first pass in the 68th minute he broke in dynamic fashion in midfield to link with Wilkinson and the move resulted in a try for Will Greenwood. As the match entered injury time Wilkinson helped himself to try number nine and Dallaglio, that great Anglo-Italian, rounded things off with the 10th. Afternoon shows at the Colosseum have been more gruesome than this although Italy will need some convincing.

Tries: Healey 2, Balshaw 2, Cohen, Tries: Dallan, Checchinato, Regan, Wilkinson, Dallaglio
Pens: Scanavacca 3, Pens: Wilkinson 4
Cons: Wilkinson 9

Half-time: 33-23

Six Nations points table