Rome nightmare haunts Foden

The England full-back is desperate to atone for the errors, which gifted Italy two tries in as many minutes as the Azzurri opened a 15-6 lead early in the second half.

An awkward bounce, a deflection and Foden’s mix-up with Ben Youngs gifted Italy their first try, scored by the wing Giovanbattista Venditti.

If Foden was unfortunate with the first, he takes full responsibility for the second when his off-load was intercepted and Tommaso Benvenuti scored between the posts.

England clawed their way back into the game with a charge-down try from Charlie Hodgson and they sealed a 19-15 win thanks to a perfect kicking display from Owen Farrell.

Foden was relieved to have been bailed out but that intercept will live with him for a fortnight – until England next take the field, against Wales at Twickenham.

“If we had lost I would have blamed myself completely,” said Foden.

“I will probably still go to bed and relive that moment. It wasn’t my best day at the office.

“The second mistake was probably a little bit to do with the first try. I was trying to push the ball a bit too hard. I trucked it up the middle, managed to get my arms free and thought the pass was on for Charlie.

“Time slows down to virtually a standstill. Their 13 has got it and it was probably the longest 40m run-in I have had to watch.

“I was annoyed with myself. I always hold my hands up and say, ‘My fault’.”

England have two wins from their opening games but neither have been pretty affairs, relying more on dogged determination than any attacking ability.

Foden and his wings Chris Ashton and David Strettle are beginning to get frustrated by their lack of opportunities to cause some damage.

The Northampton star believes England can use that to their advantage when Wales arrive at Twickenham because no one knows how good this new-look team could be when they attack at full pelt.

“The elements have not been perfect so far – wet and windy at Murrayfield and then snowy, wet and bitterly cold here,” said Foden. “It is not ideal for a back three. We want to see the ball moved wide. Ashy is getting pretty frustrated, he wants to be scoring tries. We haven’t shown too much of our attacking prowess. Wales will know we still have that in our locker.

“Hopefully it will be a nice day and we can play some good rugby.”