Italy 0-33 England: George at the double as Azzurri routed in Rome

England fell to a late 20-17 loss to Scotland in their opening match but any risk of back-to-back defeats to begin a campaign for the first time since 2005 never looked likely.

The visitors crossed over three times in the first half, with George at the double after Marcus Smith had opened the scoring inside nine minutes.

Elliot Daly and Kyle Sinckler further punished sloppy Italy, who have now lost each of their past 34 matches in the Six Nations and have still yet to beat England in the competition.

Italy took a shock early lead in last week's loss to France, though they were on the wrong end of an early try against England as Smith linked up with Max Malins and dived over.

England did not have to wait long for a second try, with George burying his way over from close range to finish off a move he started from a lineout.

Maro Itoje had a try ruled out for obstruction, but England were out of sight before half-time as George collected Smith's offload and grounded after dodging a couple of tackles.

Daly, brought on for Jack Nowell in the first half after the wing failed a head injury assessment, added a fourth for England when racing in down the left early in the second half.

England introduced Ben Youngs for the scrum-half's 114th cap, equalling Jason Leonard's Test record, while Ollie Chessum was handed his senior debut.

Italy pushed hard for a consolation try without finding one, and it was left to Sinckler to have the final say with a simple finish following a costly Leonardo Marin error.

Milestone @benyoungs09 joins Jason Leonard as England's most capped men's playerCongratulations on an incredible achievement Ben pic.twitter.com/mLKMINW7HQ

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 13, 2022

England clearly wanted to send out a message on the back of last week's loss to Scotland and they did exactly that with three tries in the first half and two more in the second.

The Red Rose's lead at half-time was their joint-biggest in an away game in the Six Nations, level with the 21 points they led by against Wales in 2001 and Italy in 2002.

This comfortable England win was as much about Italy's sloppy and ill-disciplined play as their own brilliance, but Freddie Steward deserves praise for his under-the-radar performance.

He led the way for metres made (157) and also reached double figures for carries (11), behind only Malins (12) and Alex Dombrandt (15).