Chris Robshaw is all smiles after England's victory © Getty Images

England’s post-World Cup rehabilitation gathered further momentum on Saturday when they stormed the Stadio Olimpico and came away with a gritty and spirited 19-15 win, a result that may make some experts sit up and take notice of this fledging side.

Was the performance faultless? No. Are there improvements to be made? Certainly. Does that take the shine off of this result? Absolutely not. Consider for a moment that France, a side who went on to reach the World Cup final, lost in Rome in last year’s Six Nations in much better conditions and you get a sense of just how impressive this victory was for an inexperienced but growing England outfit.

The first challenge for the men in white was not their opposition but the state of the pitch and the conditions in the Italian capital. With snow covering a major percentage of the Stadio Olimpico field at kick-off, any form of expansive, running rugby was always going to be hard to fashion. In fact the opening half-hour of the match was almost farcical, as a cocktail of messy scrums and dreadful kicking must have left the Rome crowd wishing that the game had been postponed.

Somehow in the melee, the cool and collected Owen Farrell had managed to kick England into a 6-0 lead with two long-range penalties. But in the closing stages of the opening period, the visitors threw away all of their hard work as they gifted the Azzurri two tries in as many minutes. Sloppy errors in defence by England allowed Giovanbattista Venditti and Tomasso Benvenuti to run in a score apiece and after a first half that they had kept tight for the majority, Stuart Lancaster’s side were 12-6 at the break.

But as is the way with this new-look side, England came out in the second half and played with a determination that defied the elements and the odds. Despite a penalty from Kris Burton extending the hosts’ lead, a chargedown try by Charlie Hodgson, for the second week in a row, dragged England back into contention. Two more penalties from Farrell, who is already looking like a world-class player in this embryonic side, put the Red Rose in front and it was a lead they held onto until full-time.

An excellent result away from home for England but there may well be changes ahead of the visit of Wales in two weeks time. Ben Morgan and Lee Dickson came off the bench in the second half and made an instant impact; giving the team much more impetus and making the visitors look increasingly dangerous when they attacked the Italian defence. Morgan and Dickson must now start against the Welsh at Twickenham if England are to avoid the sort of slow start they endured against both Scotland and Italy.

So England sit second on the Six Nations table with two wins from two and Lancaster must be wondering just how difficult international rugby management can get. Well with Wales, France and Ireland still to play, it is going to get a lot tougher but with two impressive away victories behind them, many England fans will be wondering just how far they can go in this competition.

Ashley Lambell @ntfcash