England's coach, Clive Woodward, was delighted that his young side had coped with the aggression that had confronted them at the Stadio Flaminio and emerged with a victory.

He was also dismissive of criticism by the former Australia wing David Campese, who said England were "too predictable and they've got a lot of work to do" before they can challenge southern hemisphere sides.

Woodward, relieved that England still had a Six Nations grand slam in their sights ahead of their match against Scotland at Murrayfield on 2 April, leapt to his side's defence.

"David's got to understand that this is still a very young side," said Woodward, who found the comments typical of Campese's jaundiced view of English rugby. "I think he's right in saying the accuracy [of passing] wasn't there but the ambition was there and we're just delighted to win the game.

"It's a tough place to play and any international side coming here to play is going to find it very difficult. I can see why Scotland lost here."

He admitted the match had been harder than the score indicated and much more of a test than many, the bookmakers included, had expected. "We were supposed to be 50-1 on favourites to win but any international side coming here to play are going to get a very difficult game - we're just delighted to have won the game," he said. "Really after that first 20 minutes I was saying all I want is to get out of this with a win."

There was little opportunity for his side to play their running game before the break and that did take a little of the shine off the game for him. He said: "That's a pretty hostile place out there. It's a tough place to play and any international side coming here to play is going to find it very difficult. I can see why Scotland lost here. If you don't prepare properly you are going to get beaten.

"The first-half performance was pretty disappointing but in the second half we played pretty well."

But although his side is young, it lacks nothing in maturity. There was little enthusiasm for celebration immediately after the victory because the players were aware that their job has not yet been completed.

"Everyone is quiet in the dressing-room," Woodward said. "It's all about how well we play [at Murrayfield against Scotland] in two weeks' time now."

England's captain, Matt Dawson, agreed. "In first half we didn't play as well as we could do. They were very good in defence and put us under a bit of pressure but I was very happy with the second half," he said. "Italy put us under a huge amount of pressure early on, but when they got tired in the last 20 or 30 minutes, we came through. Scotland will be difficult. We have to make sure we don't make mistakes early on like we did today."