Three tries in the last 14 minutes, including two for the Exeter wing Jack Nowell, broke Italy’s brave and clever resistance as England moved to the top of the Six Nations table, three points ahead of Ireland.

England will remain narrow favourites to retain their Championship title, with Scotland to come here on Saturday week, and a trip to Ireland a week later, but the team who extended their winning run under head coach Eddie Jones to 16 matches, and 17 overall, had to think as much as fight their way through against an Italy side who trailed by only two points going into the final quarter.

England had won all 22 previous meetings and scored 139 points in the three most recent if them, but for a long time this struggle was more reminiscent of the terrible trouble Italy gave their Twickenham hosts on the last visit but one, an 18-11 English win in 2013.

The 63-10 thumping Italy took from Ireland in the previous round of this Six Nations in Rome looked a rotten form guide as they completely unsettled England with a canny, highly unusual use of the laws that was a tribute to the planning of the visitors’ coaches Conor O’Shea, Brendan Venter and Mike Catt.

Two penalties missed by fly-half Tommy Allan meant Italy had no reward on the scoreboard for a good first quarter but in that period they had disrupted England’s flow by keeping their players out of the immediate post-tackle situation and positioning one instead on the white-jerseyed side of three tackles with their arms spread wide – on the legal basis that with no ruck having been formed, there was no line of offside.

England supporters who had come here expecting their main mental activity to be counting up the tries their team were scoring were sent scrabbling to inspect the ruck law 16.1 in the rule-book.

As a tactic it was much more effective in discombobulating England than when Italy came here with the flanker Mauro Bergamasco as a scrum-half a few years ago.

England vs Italy player ratings Show all 15 1 /15 England vs Italy player ratings England vs Italy player ratings <b>England:</b> Mike Brown – 5 out of 10 Left on his heels when Michele Campagnaro broke through the line, but started to show signs of his running best in the second half that he hasn’t shown for quite some time. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Jonny May – 4 out of 10 Failed to take a Ben Te’o offload in the first half when through on the try line, and faded from that point on as England struggled to figure out how to get the ball out wide. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Ben Te'o – 7 out of 10 When he got the chance to run with the ball he was impressive, taking a crash ball through the line and bagging his second try as the game began to unravel. Showed some nice offloads and also effective in the tackle. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Owen Farrell – 4 out of 10 In what was supposed to be a celebration of his 50th cap, Farrell put in possibly his worst performance in an England shirt. Twice he committed the cardinal sin of missing touch from a penalty and kicking the ball dead, and he also struggled with the swirling wind inside Twickenham as he missed a penalty and three conversions. He also got away with a questionable hit on Edoardo Gori to put him out of the game. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Elliot Daly – 7 out of 10 Displayed his pace once again to bag his second try in as many matches and was unlikely not to double up after impressive defending from Carlo Canna saw the replacement fly-half kick the ball out from under Daly’s hand. He also did his defensive work well, helping to force a knock-on in a maul on the England try line. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings George Ford – 5 out of 10 He will rarely see less of the ball thanks to the Italian defenders. His kick down the line nearly produced a try for Daly, but he fell short defensively when Campagnaro ran over him on his way to scoring. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Danny Care – 6 out of 10 Sparked the England fightback into life with his quick tap and go to score in the corner after catching the Italian defence asleep. He was also the first to counter the Italian defence by running through the middle of the ruck. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Joe Marler – 6 out of 10 The English front-row struggled early on but that wasn’t any of Marler’s doing as he stood firm. Went through the motions a bit when it came to carrying, and was withdrawn in the 55th minute for the returning Mako Vunipola who made a notable impact in the scrum and the loose. AFP/Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Dylan Hartley – 5 out of 10 Asking referee Romain Poite what England need to do to ruck wasn’t a high point, but his lineout was exemplary. Questions about whether Jamie George should come into the side won’t go away yet though. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Dan Cole – 5 out of 10 A game of mixed fortunes for the tighthead, and he conceded two penalties inside a minute in the first half before scoring England’s opening try. He also struggled early in the scrum, with Lovotti managing to turn him in twice to win penalties. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Joe Launchbury – 7 out of 10 One of those who led Plan B in the second half as he took on the carrying duty from the base to try force Italy into retreat. Appears to be excelling with each game that goes by. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Courtney Lawes – 6 out of 10 Carried well once again and put in a big hit on Allan to shake up the fly-half, but as England struggled to find ways of securing clean ball, his impact faded. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Maro Itoje – 7 out of 10 Two steals in the lineout helped disrupt the Italian set-piece and he also imposed in defence, with one big hit on Venditti setting the tone early in the second half as England got back on the gas. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings James Haskell – 6 out of 10 Given it’s his first international start for eight months, it’s hard to over-analyse the flanker. One knock-on wasn’t his fault given it was a poor pass from Care, but his conversation about the laws of the game will not be one for the highlight reel. Getty Images England vs Italy player ratings Nathan Hughes – 7 out of 10 Another to endure a mixed game as he combined powerful running and tackling with conceding two penalties at the breakdown and also dropped the ball in an early counter attack. Getty Images

England’s captain Dylan Hartley and returning flanker James Haskell, a former club skipper at Wasps, were still trying to work the law out by speaking to referee Romain Poite near the end of the first half.

Jack Nowell scores England's sixth try of the game (Getty)

Those in the Twickenham stands who weren’t wrongly booing the Italian tactic could listen in to the referee’s microphone as Hartley and Haskell sought instructions on how to combat it, and what constitutes a legally-formed ruck, only to be told by Poite: “I am a referee, I’m not a coach.”

Sensibly, if very belatedly and ahead of his flustered forwards, England’s scrum-half Danny Care pinpointed the lack of Italian numbers over the ball after the tackle as an opportunity to pierce the opposition. Care chipped-and-chased towards the posts with 36 minutes gone, but Italy’s full-back Edoardo Padovani did well to cover and call a mark.

Kyle Sinckler is brought down by Michele Campagnaro (Getty)

At that stage England were a skinny 5-3 ahead, after a line-out catch-and-drive try for their tighthead prop Dan Cole in the 24th minute, replied to by Allan’s 30-metre dropped goal 10 minutes later.

It then got worse for the reigning Six Nations Grand Slam champions just before the interval as Allan’s wobbly place-kicking led to an Italian try. The No.10 hit the right-hand post with a penalty – England’s ninth conceded of the half – and as the home players stood and watched, Italy’s left wing Giovanbattista Venditti snatched the bouncing ball and brushed off Joe Launchbury and Mike Brown to score, with Allan’s conversion putting Italy ahead, 10-5.

The Italian ploy had an obviously limited shelf life, once England had woken up to it, and began driving, hard and early, after contact.

Campagnaro of Italy scores his team's second try (Getty ) (Getty)

Launchbury set the tone at the start of the second half and within six minutes England had their second and third tries, and Twickenham was in full voice.

Care’s sharp tap and go took the pacy No.9 over at the left corner on 43 minutes, and he was followed there by Elliot Daly after a battering set-up by the forwards Maro Itoje, James Haskell and Haskell, and a nice loop by Care around fly-half George Ford.

Farrell converted the Daly try and England felt much happier with life at 17-10 up.

So much so that they turned the Italians’ tactics on them by having Nathan Hughes standing on the “wrong” side of a tackle, arms wide in the earlier manner of his opposite number Sergio Parisse.

England initially struggled to cope with Italy's unconventional approach (Getty)

Another fillip for England came when Allan was flattened by a chasing Itoje, who was also reprising his second-row scrummaging role from the 21-16 win in Wales two weeks ago.

But even while Italy had Allan down with a shoulder injury, they managed to cut England apart for a shock second try on the short side of a ruck. Michele Campagnaro, who plays for Exeter Chiefs, barged Ford out of his path and sped on past Jamie George, Daly and Brown.

Padovani was tasked with the conversion, as Carlo Cana replaced the stricken Allan, and dragged the kick wide to England’s relief.

Farrell, winning his 50th cap at the age of 25, found the increasingly wet and squally conditions affected his normally impressive strike rate, and the inside centre pulled a good penalty chance wide in, with 15 minutes remaining.

Danny Care scored for England shortly after the restart (Getty)

But all remaining doubt over the result disappeared with England’s bonus-point try, plus a fifth and sixth for good measure.

A spectacular mix-up by the television match official George Ayoub was rescued just in time for an England scrum to become a line-out, after Canna had thwarted Daly with a brilliant recovery to the kick the ball out.

Courtney Lawes caught the line-out and eventually the ball went along the line for replacement – or “finisher” as Jones likes to call them – Jack Nowell to dot down at the right corner.

A galloping run by Cole’s replacement Kyle Sinckler made the next try for Te’o, with 72 minutes gone, and Italy’s exhausted defence were easily splintered by Nowell for the Exeter wing’s second score, after a charge-down by the tireless Itoje.

Scorers:

England: tries: Cole, Care, Daly, Nowell 2, Te’o; conversions: Farrell 3.

Italy: tries: Venditti, Campagnaro; conversion: Allan; drop: Allan.

England: M Brown; J May (rep J Nowell 56 th min), B Te’o (H Slade 75), O Farrell, E Daly; G Ford, D Care (B Youngs 52); J Marler (M Vunipola 56), D Hartley (capt; J George 56), D Cole (K Sinckler 72), J Launchbury, C Lawes, M Itoje, J Haskell (J Clifford 72), N Hughes (T Wood 72).

Italy: E Padovani; G Bisegni (T Benvenuti 52), M Campagnaro, L McLean, G Venditti; T Allan (C Canna 62), E Gori (G Bronzini 36); A Lovotti (M Rizzo 58), O Gega (T D’Apice 74), L Cittadini (P Ceccarelli 52), M Fuser (G Biagi 72), A van Schalkwyk, A Steyn, S Favaro (M Mbanda 58), S Parisse (capt).