Martin Johnson admitted he was happy just to come away with a win after a scrappy contest against Italy in Rome.
Grand Slam dream still alive - but only just
Martin Johnson admitted he was happy just to come away with a win after a scrappy contest against Italy in Rome.
England won 17-12 to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive and the head coach said: "You play Italy over here and it is never easy. Scotland have lost here, Wales have lost here. I am happy to win today. It was a tough, physical game which we thought it would be.
"The frustrating thing is we opened them up but we didn't take those chances.
"The guys knew they could have done better. You can lose close games like that if you lose your discipline and composure.
"It was disappointing in the second half, we lost five lineouts and we couldn't get field position. That is a big number of set-piece balls to lose.
"We were attacking from 80 metres out. It makes it tough, we didn't have enough possession in their half."
Kicking contest
England showed in flashes how dangerous an attacking force they could be, but the visitors spent far too long engaged in a kicking contest and Johnson criticised his players for failing to impose themselves.
"There were times when we could have kept it in hand a little bit more because when we did we looked good. The try we took very well," added Johnson.
"At times we did play good rugby but there wasn't a try on the end of it. We missed kicks and try-scoring opportunities that would have changed the nature of the game.
Platform
"Six-all at half-time is approximately where we expected it to be. We found a way to score but from there you want to keep the pressure on. We didn't.
"The kick-chase wasn't good enough. When we did that we got turnovers, when we didn't it gave them a platform to create pressure.
"We lost that game for the majority of the match. The guys are happy to win but they knew they could have done better."
England's next game is at home to champions Ireland on February 27
