Sloppy England stutters past Italy 18-11 at Twickenham, 1 win from Grand Slam in Six Nations

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England's Alex Goode, left, calls a mark after catching a clear ball from Italy during their Six Nations rugby union match at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday, March 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

LONDON - England will limp into a Six Nations title showdown with Wales next weekend after stuttering past Italy 18-11 on Sunday with its most disjointed performance of the tournament.

It's four wins from four for the English, meaning a first Grand Slam since 2003 is still on, but they were handed a huge scare from an Italy team given next to no chance of ending an 18-match losing run in this fixture.

Bereft of imagination and clearly feeling the pressure late on, the English were kept tryless and needed a flawless display of place-kicking by flyhalf Toby Flood, who booted six penalties, to guide the leaders home in thoroughly unconvincing fashion.

"We have come through a massive scare there," England forwards coach Graham Rowntree said.

The Italians scored the only try, through winger Luke McLean in the 49th, and was camped in England's 22 in an unexpectedly tense final 15 minutes in which the hosts' scramble defence only just kept their opponents at bay. Italy captain Sergio Parisse was everywhere, a beacon of energy and pure class who didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

Fans will need to bring a calculator to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday, given the permutations.

England is two points clear of second-place Wales and has a superior points difference of 14. If the Welsh beat their fiercest rivals by eight points or more, they will retain the title; a win by seven points would leave the title going down to tries scored — and Wales has the edge by two. Anything else and England will come back across the Severn Bridge with the trophy.

"We won't be thinking about points differential too much," said England coach Stuart Lancaster, who sat ashen-faced in his seat in the final stages as Italy homed in on his team's line.

"No one has been punching the air in delight. It's a case of lessons learnt and we need to improve going into next week."

While victory was naturally the order of the day, winning by a big enough margin to render Wales' task next week as near impossible would have been a close second for England. The Italians were fresh off losses to Scotland and Wales, and had conceded an average of 35 points from its six previous trips to Twickenham.

Yet, for various reasons — Italy's gritty defence, England forcing play too much, the pressure of expectation — the hosts simply froze.

England was unrecognizable late on, making so many basic mistakes, especially with its kicking. Ben Youngs had to hack the ball out of play to bring the game to a close, soon after fellow substitute Courtney Lawes pinched an Italian lineout 10 metres out. Never has England been so desperate against Italy.

"The guys on the field were hanging on," Rowntree acknowledged.

Even a draw would have been one of the most surprising results in Six Nations history and Wales, which has won its past three games, will quite rightly be confident ahead of next weekend.

"Italy showed they had character, showed they wanted to fight the England team," Italy coach Jacques Brunel said. "We had good possession but England had more discipline."

It had all looked so different early on. Despite Parisse's best efforts — "I thought his performance was outstanding," Lancaster said — the English had all the possession and settled into a tempo.

However, all they had for their first-half dominance was four penalties from Flood and a 12-3 lead. Flood was held up over the line in the 24th in England's best chance, but Italy also went close when Parisse's deft inside pass on halfway sent Alessandro Zanni clear, only for the attack to peter out 10 metres out.

The Azzurri also emerged relatively unscathed from the sin-binning of scrumhalf Edoardo Gori for pulling back Flood off the ball and the loss of prop Martin Castrogiovanni, who injured his left leg.

England would have trotted off to the dressing room frustrated and disappointed but things just got worse.

Luciano Orquera cancelled out an early second-half penalty by Flood and then delivered a perfect cross-field kick behind the out-of-position Chris Ashton right into the path of McLean, who dotted down in the left corner. The conversion was missed but Italy's tails were up at just 15-11 down.

England captain Chris Robshaw dropped a high kick under no pressure. Flood's kicking out of hand became aimless. Tackles were missed. England, suddenly, was a shambles.

"I felt we let our control slip — Italy pushed us right to the end," Lancaster said.

Orquera missed a chance to put Italy just one point behind as he skewed a penalty wide, and Flood's sixth of the afternoon — in the 62nd — gave England a seven-point cushion it would never lose. However, only a lack of control at critical moments denied Italy a famous result.

The Welsh will be uplifted by what they saw here.

"Four from four isn't a bad place to be in," England defence coach Andy Farrell said. "When it comes down to the last game, form goes out of the window."

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Scores:

England 18 (Toby Flood 6 penalties), Italy 11 (Luke McLean try; Luciano Orquera 2 penalties). HT: 12-3.