MIKE BROWN: England’s win over Italy wasn’t perfect but Rome wasn’t built in a day… Steve Borthwick’s side got a scare but there were some promising signs too

I have started the last Six Nations with excitement, looking at the talent in the England squad and hoping they can express themselves in the tournament, only to be disappointed.

Although Saturday’s opening round win over Italy in Rome wasn’t perfect – especially defensively in the first half – I think Steve Borthwick will go home relatively happy.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the team make further improvements against Wales on Saturday before tougher games against Scotland, Ireland and France.

England were certainly given a scare at the Stadio Olimpico, but did just enough. They fixed their defensive problems in the second half and there were also promising signs of attacking development.

England had good variety in their attack and several running opportunities from scrum-half Alex Mitchell. They hit the middle on George Ford on the 10, went wide and used some nice little kicks in attack.

Steve Borthwick can take some positives from the game – even if there are improvements to be made

Alex Mitchell was among the players to make a positive impact for England (pictured scoring their second try)

Some of the forwards even stepped into the scrum-half when the ball was there to be moved, which increased the pace.

This wasn’t the finished product and certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely a platform to build on.

Felix Jones is a new addition to England’s set-up as the man in charge of their defence. He arrived from South Africa where he won back-to-back World Cups, so he has come with a big reputation.

From talking to a few England players, my understanding is that Jones wants tremendous line speed and a strong blitz where players fly up to force the offense back, make dominating hits and create turnovers. But it takes time to adapt to any new coach.

We saw England struggle in defense at the start because there is still some learning going on.

England’s defense was constantly caught narrow, as evidenced by Italy’s two first-half tries. It was a recurring theme.

When Alessandro Garbisi scored, England’s last man was standing in the middle of the pitch.

Ollie Chessum flew up in defense and acted on Jones’ wishes to bring in a South African-style defence, but the combination of him not making the tackle and his team-mates not following his lead led to the Garbisi try.

England struggled in defense and were consistently caught narrow, which proved for Italy’s two first-half tries

England were also narrow again after a kick for Italy’s second try. At the time it was very worrying but to give credit to Borthwick and Jones the consistent high line speed that anyone in a white shirt needed was resolved.

The defense, which was caught too tight, continued and will be addressed next week.

Italy were held scoreless for almost the entire second half until Monty Ioane’s late burst. It was ironic that it was England’s attack that kept them in the game.

For far too long we have seen the team struggle to create try-scoring opportunities and break down opposition defences. There were signs in Rome that may soon change.

Like Jones, Andrew Strawbridge has arrived as a new face in the England set-up in charge of skills. Again like Jones, he is highly regarded, having worked with New Zealand.

He hasn’t had much time with the team, but in Rome England looked faster in attack, had opportunities on the line and moved the ball nicely. That much Elliot Daly’s trial proved.

Tommy Freeman played a key role, running a really nice line, and Mitchell’s attempt to score was typical of the form he has shown in the Premier League with Northampton.

At one point in the match, the stats showed that 62 per cent of England’s runs were between one and three seconds. Again, this is a positive sign and a stark contrast to recent campaigns where England have really struggled to recycle the ball quickly. But they were still behind at the break.

There is still considerable work for the team to do to reach the type of standard we saw from Ireland against France on Friday night.

England will be pleased with their victory, although they will not be fully satisfied with their display

England will be disappointed with the final result, not getting a bonus point in four tries, but it’s a winning start and that’s all that matters. England have still never lost to Italy.

I thought the Azzurri had an impressive display. They took advantage of England’s poor defense and won the try count three to two.

They would have been desperate to win but can still take heart from a narrow defeat, especially as this was their first game under a new coach.

England will not be completely satisfied, but still satisfied. Italy will be thinking about what could have been as they ended up valiant losers again.