ENGLAND launched World Cup year at Twickenham by sweeping Italy aside to generate further momentum in their quest for a first RBS 6 Nations title under Stuart Lancaster.

The brilliance of Jonathan Joseph was evident once again as the lightning-fast outside centre followed up his try against Wales by plundering two more, his footwork and pace tormenting the Azzurri defence. Billy Vunipola, Ben Youngs, Danny Cipriani and Nick Easter also crossed, but it proved to be a stop-start afternoon after the euphoria of an outstanding start to the Championship in Cardiff.

Italy touched down through Sergio Parisse and Luca Morisi (2), and failed to finish two good chances, while fly-half Kelly Haimona was unable to land a single one of his four attempts at goal.

A substantial improvement will be needed if England are to remain on course for the Grand Slam by dispatching Ireland in their pivotal Dublin showdown on March 1 with little to frighten their main rivals other than the devilry of man-of-the-match Joseph.

Lancaster was unimpressed by his side's slow start, as they conceded an early try to go 5-0 down, feeling his team's victory over Wales last week had had a knock-on effect.

After going in 15-5 up at the break and then extending the lead to 18-5, England were pegged back to 18-10 in the 48th minute by another Italy try, before subsequently moving out of sight.

Asked if his side had been suffering something of an emotional hangover at first from last Friday's 21-16 win, Lancaster said: "It looked that way, without a doubt. It was a soft try we conceded first up, and it took until half time.

"I gave them a bit of a rev-up and said 'listen boys, we need to up the intensity', and I thought we did that a little bit in the second half."

England lost Mike Brown to injury early on, but Lancaster added: "I don't think we can use that as a reason. I just think we were a little bit off, off the back of last week. We need to be better than that. Overall, if you had said to me at the start of the day that I would get 47 points, I would have taken it if I'm being honest. But I'm slightly disappointed we couldn't do a bit better."

Lancaster was however happy with stand-out performer Joseph. "He has had some really well- taken tries and I am really pleased for him. We had to shift him to the wing when we lost Brownie and he looked just as comfortable there. He is having a great season so far and I am delighted for him."

Joseph said: "We didn't start too well, going down, but the boys showed great spirit to come back and get the win. I think defensively we weren't disciplined enough at first. We weren't smart, we weren't streetwise and we allowed them to get on top of us. But we sorted that out, got our systems into place it worked much better in the second half."

England: Brown, Watson, Joseph, Burrell, May, Ford, B Youngs, Marler, Hartley, Cole, Attwood, Kruis, Haskell, Robshaw, B. Vunipola. Replacements: Twelvetrees for Brown (13), Cipriani for Ford (63), Wigglesworth for B. Youngs (67), M Vunipola for Marler (72), T Youngs for Hartley (59), Brookes for Cole (59), Easter for Attwood (51), Croft for Haskell (63).

Italy: McLean, Sarto, Morisi, Masi, Venditti, Haimona, Gori, De Marchi, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Biagi, Bortolami, Bergamasco, Minto, Parisse. Replacements: Bisegni for Sarto (72), Allan for Haimona (70),

Palazzani for Gori (71), Aguero for De Marchi (59),

Manici for Ghiraldini (59), Chistolini for Castrogiovanni (60), Furno for Bortolami (46), Vunisa for Minto (29).

Att: 82,061

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland).