Watson stars as England ease past Italy – 6 Nations

After the scrum had won an ominous penalty, the ball was worked off the top of the lineout to Ben Te’o who broke the gain line before it was spun right and George Ford combined with Farrell and Jonny May to release Watson who coasted over.

Farrell’s conversion hit the post and soon after the visitors saw Ben Youngs stretchered off with a knee injury but that couldn’t derail them.

And a second try did not take long in coming, May with the initial incision off his left wing before feeding Watson who did the rest – rounding Tommaso Boni and finishing in style for his second.

Again Farrell could not add the extras but at 10-0, Italy needed the next score to gain a foothold.

However, it soon arrived as the visitors’ attack continued to click. Nice interplay down the right between Mako Vunipola and Dan Cole made inroads before Farrell darted over down the left.

The inside centre this time converted his own score for a 17-7 lead but just before the break the Azzurri did trim their deficit with an Allan penalty.

In between those two incidents, Farrell kicked another penalty to make it 20-10 and the fourth England try and a bonus point was not far away – Simmonds the scorer as the No.8 burst through a hole from a maul to dart over.

Farrell converted but Italy, with Boni and Tommaso Castello willing runners throughout, kept coming and Bellini did extremely well to finish their second try in the left corner.

Both sides were beginning to empty their benches, most notably England introducing Jack Nowell on the win as Watson shifted to full-back.

And the defending champions’ fifth try arrived in the 68^th minute, Farrell again the creator on a perfect line to make the break before feeding Ford back on the inside.

In the final ten minutes the England finishers started to make an impact against a tiring Azzurri defence – first Simmonds burst clear for his second before the No.8 then released Nowell for England’s seventh.

Job done for England, whose attentions will now turn to Twickenham and the visit of Wales in round two while Italy can take plenty of positives on the road to Dublin.