Johnson aware England almost handed Italy shock result

Mathew Tait's try early in the second half ultimately proved the difference but England needed a late drop-goal from Jonny Wilkinson to finally quell a spirited Italian effort.

The Azzurri, who had trailed 14-6, pushed England to the brink with four penalties from Mirco Bergamasco.

"You play Italy over here and it is never easy," said Johnson.

"Scotland have lost here, Wales have lost here. I am happy to win 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."

England showed in flashes how dangerous an attacking force they could be and Tait's try was well-crafted by Nick Easter, Ugo Monye and Delon Armitage.

But England spent far too long engaged in an aimless 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," said 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.

"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."

Italy coach Nick Mallett said: "I thought the game would be decided by a mistake. Andrea Masi had a very good game but he unfortunately got his head on the wrong side of the tackle and England scored the only try."

Mallett conceded that even though it was a close game, he never thought England would give the win away.

"I never felt England were there for the taking," he said.

"They had more opportunities than us. In the first half, Tito Tebaldi made a crucial tackle to stop England from scoring a try."

Mallett's side lost their opener 29-11 at Ireland but he is seeing a lot of determination in his players which bodes well for the future.

Mallett said: "Our attacking play and speed were better than the game against Ireland. I think it's good the team is disappointed."