ENGLAND were always going to be on a hiding to nothing after losing to Scotland on home turf last week, and the prematch script was that Italy were always going to be on the receiving end of a hiding.
However, it did not unfold according to script, because while England eventually managed to shake off enough rust to finally get the wheels turning and score six tries – with Anthony Watson grabbing two, and Jonny May, Jonny Hill, Elliot Daly, and Jack Willis bagging the others – Italy played with great spirit throughout.
It meant that the visitors not only made a competitive match of it, but put enough dents in England to indicate that Eddie Jones has still got a long way to go if his team are to have any say in this season's title race.
The reality was that a young Azzurri side succeeded in putting a spanner in the Red Rose works so regularly that, until Watson's intercept try nine minutes after half-time, they were unable to achieve the flow and precision needed to erase the Calcutta Cup ghosts.
By contrast the Italian half-back pairing of Welshborn scrum-half Stephen Varney, 19, and fly-half Paolo Garbisi, 20, played with an energy and flourish which the experienced England combo of Ben Youngs and George Ford frequently found hard to match.
Knowing how the plot ends before the play starts is never the best advertisement for a Six Nations fixture – and it has become the perennial problem in every match for an Italian outfit carrying the load of a five-year losing streak – but even so England found the visitors difficult to shake off.
Although their final points tally suggested otherwise, the England forwards found it hard to make any headway against a gritty Italian pack, in which their No.8 Michele Lamaro was outstanding on the carry and in the tackle.
It meant that with the exception of Hill, who is filling the void left by George Kruis and Joe Launchbury impressively, there were few England forwards who enhanced their reputations.
The only other notable impact was made by Willis, who after coming on in the the 58th minute, took full advantage of a 30 metre break by his Wasps teammate Dan Robson from a tap-and-go, to muscle through Varney and Garbisi for England's fifth try.
Although it took England out to a 34-11 lead, Willis' joy was short-lived when his six-minute blitz was brought to an end by a nasty knee injury – incurred after he was jack-knifed by a Seb Negri clear-out – led to the flanker being stretchered off.
Another nagging worry is that the English indiscipline which was off the charts against Scotland was far from eradicated here, with the barrage of noise directed at referee Mike Adamson – who became the first Scot in 19 years to take charge of a Six Nations match – hard to believe.
What you could hear over the ref-link frequently sounded like a parish council meeting descending into chaos, only this time there was no Jackie Weaver about to restore order.
You suspect that her advice on the subject would be for the England coach to get his players to stop constantly yapping at the referee, and for Adamson to be a lot less tolerant in future, and march the worst offenders back ten metres until they put a sock in it.
England's noses were put out of joint in the opening minutes, after Italy kicked to the corner from a penalty given against Courtney Lawes. When Lamaro rammed deep into the England 22, and then made headway again after a carry by Marco Lazzaroni, Italy were in full cry.
They added the finishing touches in style when Varney and Garbisi linked, and full-back Jacopo Trulla gave a crisp scoring pass to put Monty Iaone over in the corner.
Garbisi could not convert, and after a Farrell penalty cut the deficit to 5-3, Hill rounded off sustained by pressure in the Italian 22 by showing his fellow tight forwards that the key to drilling through the solid Italian wall was getting low enough.
With Farrell missing the conversion, and Garbisi successful with a penalty conceded by Maro Itoje, it was 8-8 midway through the first-half, and England's struggles were compounded when Henry Slade hacked through only to be hustled of the ball as it crossed the Italian line.
However, in the 25th minute England cracked it when an attack which swept from one touchline back the other way saw a long pass from Hill find Watson, and the winger's step inside split the Italian defence, allowing him to score untouched.
Farrell's conversion gave England a 15-8 lead, and as half-time approached England roused themselves again, and would probably have scored from Billy Vunipola's charge-down of Garbisi's kick but for a trysaving tackle on Slade by Ioane.
In the final minute of the half England found the precision to score again when Ford and Daly combined to give May a tilt at the corner.
He finished in spectacular style, springing high with a triple-jumper's hitch to go airborne, evading Luca Speradino's tackle and grounding the ball despite his legs and torso hitting the corner flag.
It gave England a 20-8 half-time lead, but it was Italy who made the first inroads after the interval when a Garbisi cross-kick saw the dangerous Ioane shrug off Daly's tackle and spear into the England 22.
The move was halted by a Farrell wrap-tackle, but when Itoje infringed again Garbisi's second penalty kept Italy in contention at 20-11.
Then, with Italy on the attack, the match swung decisively England's way when Watson picked off a long pass by Garbisi to Negri and sprinted 70 metres for a touchdown which Farrell converted for a 27-11 lead.
England found an injection of urgency with the arrival of Robson and Willis, leading to the flanker's try, but Italy responded when Tommaso Allan showed that Italy's bench also had a bit of bite, rounding off a strong break by Federico Mori.
The last score of the match came when Daly capitalised on a long pass from Robson, which found him unmarked courtesy of Trulla's deflection and, with Farrell converting, England's Six Nations campaign was back in credit.
Whether it gives them enough in the bank to stay in the black against Wales in Cardiff a fortnight from now is another matter.
