England 47-24 Italy LIVE RESULT: Rampant Red Rose secure Six Nations victory in high-scoring thriller at Twickenham
ENGLAND have beaten Italy to secure a third consecutive win in the Six Nations.
Substitute Marcus Smith was amongst the try scorers for Red Rose as Steve Borthwick's side won a high-scoring thriller at Twickenham.
England remain in the hunt for the Six Nations championship, but rivals France are in pole position ahead of the final weekend.
- Match result: England 47-24 Italy
- England XV: Daly, Freeman, Lawrence, Dingwall, Sleightholme, F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, George, Stuart, Itoje, Chessum, T Curry, Earl, Willis
- Italy XV: Capuozzo; Ioane, Brex, Menoncello, Gallagher; P Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Fischetti, Nicotera, Riccioni, N Cannone, Ruzza, Negri, Lamaro, Vintcent
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Thank you very much for following along with SunSport's coverage of England vs Italy.
It was an emphatic win for England and it is all to play for next time out in Cardiff!
Maro Itoje ready to go again in Wales
The Six Nations title is within reach for England ahead of their final match against Wales next weekend. Here are Itoje's thoughts on the day's action.
On the Italy win: "We wanted to get five points today, we wanted to win the game. As always, we probably wanted to be a little more dominant than we were, tidy up the defence a little bit, but by and large we are happy."
On what England changed today: "We wanted to move the ball, find space, be aggressive ball in hand and I think we were today."
On the Wales match: "We just have to do what we have to do. Wales playing England in Cardiff is a massive game, I know from experience. Its a tough place to go. We will rest, recover, and go next week."
Italy captain Michele Lamaro dissects the result
Lamaro says what everyone is thinking - Italy just couldn't quite keep up. Here's the captain's thoughts on the match.
On Italy's performance: "Very inconsistent. I think we lost a little bit of our consistency during the game. We had some brilliant moments but were switching off in some periods At the start of the second half we conceded two clear opportunities and they are a great team so they took it. We need to work on that."
On where Italy need to improve: "In the first half we conceded a few tries that we could have controlled. The tries we conceded are all on something we spoke about in the week. We were short on the edges. That makes us doubt in what we are doing. It starts in the week and how we approach our work."
The second half in pictures
Ben Earl capped the day with one last tryCredit: AFP 
Menoncello pulls one back for the visitorsCredit: Alamy 
Ben Curry impressed after entering the fray in the second halfCredit: Getty 
Marcus Smith ended up playing most of the game, but Fin Smith made a strong case for himself to stay in the first XVCredit: Alamy FULL TIME! England 47-24 Italy
An emphatic win for England, and they close it out the only way they know how as Ben Earl slides in for one last try.
The conversion is no good, but what does it matter? It is a big win at Twickenham.
Italy produced a valiant performance, it has to be said, but they ran out of steam in the final 20 minutes. The question will be asked, what could have been? With a little more in the tank, the score could have read very differently.
Now just one point behind leaders France, England are in pole position to take advantage should Les Bleus slip up next weekend.
England 42-24 Italy
Italy look to be gassed - their scrum has fallen apart in the last few minutes. They can hardly keep it upright anymore.
Just a couple of minutes remain for England to see this one over the line.
England 42-24 Italy
England roll the dice slightly. Fraser Dingwell retires and Ben Earl steps out to centre, being replaced in the forward pack by Hill.
Lets see if that wakes England up at all.
TRY! (Menoncello) England 42-24 Italy
England are letting themselves down here as Italy score again.
One emphatic run from Zuliani gets Italy into the danger zone and England cannot quite track back fast enough.
Menoncello receives the pass in acres of space, jogs over the line, and centers the ball for an easy conversion, which is scored.
England 42-17 Italy
Maybe its the heat, maybe its the seemingly cemented scoreline, but the air seems to have come out of this one somewhat.
The game has slowed considerably in the last few minutes as substitutes have come into play.
England seem content to just see this one out.
England 42-17 Italy
Worth noting that with the bonus point England are into second place in the Six Nations standings.
Assuming the result holds, England are one point ahead of Ireland and just one behind France, who lead.
An eighth Six Nations title is still very much on the cards.
England 42-17 Italy
Ben Earl, whom the writer thought was injured, has returned to play.
Evidently just a blood sub. Nothing to worry about.
England 42-17 Italy
God forbid you compliment this England team.
Some village-level rugby on show as Itoje knocks down a kick and he is joined by two of his teammates in stumbling around trying to pick it up. All three fail.
Doubt we'll see that on the highlight tape.
England 42-17 Italy
The hosts are in top gear now. The attack is at peak efficiency, and the defence is dishing out some bruising hits.
Italy's spirit does not look to be broken, though. They will take it down to the wire, no matter the score.
TRY! (Sleightholme) England 42-17 Italy
Simply audacious champagne rugby from England.
Itoje breaks forward on the left flank while support line up outside of him. Its quick hands and fingertip passing as the hosts weasel their way around the edge of the Italian defence.
Its Jamie George who makes the final pass, and he is subsequently subbed off. He earned his 100th cap today.
It was Sleightholme who finished the try, and Fin Smith converted.
England 33-17 Italy
Ben Earl limps off in another concerning injury for England.
He was having a very effective afternoon at flanker - Borthwick will hope that is nothing too serious.
TRY! (Curry) England 35-17 Italy
They're coming thick and fast now.
England waste no time in returning to Italy's 5m and Tom Curry plays piledriver, battering his way over the line. Not much you can do about a player like that.
It is Fin Smith's easiest conversion of the day. England are cruising.
TRY! (M. Smith) England 28-17 Italy
That is exactly what England needed!
A glorious run from Stuart takes several Italians out of contention and creates the space for Smith to get on the ball and cruise in for the try. Who says he shouldn't have started?
The other Smith converts with no issue.
England 21-17 Italy
Italy start the half with gusto, launching an assault on the England in-goal, but the hosts stand firm and win a penalty to stop the flow.
2ND HALF! England 21-17 Italy
The Italians get us back underway. 40 minutes remain!
With the points gap at just four points, anything could happen here.
What to do in the second half?
If Steve Borthwick picks out any point of improvement in his halftime talk, one would hope it is defense.
England have seemed comfortable enough with the ball in hand, but have been scattered at best while facing up to Italy's attack, which is not terribly productive.
All the Azurri's points thus far have come by way of England mistakes, falling asleep and committing lazy penalties to keep the visitors in the game.
The loss of Ollie Lawrence early in the match will not have helped, but that is no excuse. Work to do in the second period.
The first forty minutes in pictures
Italy's second try of the day came from nowhereCredit: Getty 
Fratellis.Credit: Getty 
It has been a tighter contest than many expectedCredit: Getty 
Fin Smith has vindicated Borthwick's trust todayCredit: Getty
HALFTIME! England 21-17 Italy
A topsy-turvy half of rugby under the south-west London sun.
England have done well to dictate the pace of the play and take their chances when needed, but a pair of bolt-from-the-blue tries for Italy mean that this game is much closer than Steve Borthwick might like.
Stay tuned for our coverage of the second half!
PENALTY! (Capuozzo) England 21-17 Italy
The referee penalises England for sealing off, much to the chagrin of the players.
The offense was committed right in front of the posts, and Italy kick over to cut the defecit.
TRY! (Sleightholme) England 21-14 Italy
That is a sentimental one for Sleightholme, who surpasses his Dad's test tryscoring record with a tidy finish.
England take a penalty quickly and spin the ball wide before Italy have a chance to realise what is going on. Sleightholme is camped on the left wing and creates the easiest 1v1 he may ever face.
Marcus Smith played the final ball to set up the chance, and Fin Smith converted from the touchline.
TRY! (Vincent) England 14-14 Italy
We are back level! Capuozzo makes amends for his earlier defensive blunder as he receives a kick in the backfield and slices through the England defense like a hot knife through butter.
Vincent follows in support to put the finishing touches on the move, tossing a dummy pass to sell a dream to the chasing white-shirted defenders.
Conversion is good and we are all square with just under ten minutes till halftime.