Jamie George has urged his England team-mates to believe in their chances of winning this year's Six Nations.

Steve Borthwick's men were 17-8 down inside the opening half hour in Rome but 17 points from fly-half George Ford and a try from scrum-half Alex Mitchell put the visitors in command.

Despite Monty Ioane's late score for Italy ensuring the game ended 27-24, skipper George was pleased with his colleagues' performances and prospects for the competition.

He said: "I don't want anyone to be involved if they don't genuinely believe we can challenge the best and win the tournament. 

"Steve [Borthwick] has already talked about how fast we need to learn. We're not going to paper over the cracks.

"I was very impressed with the way Italy approached the game. 

"They're going to give some sides some problems in this tournament. I wouldn't be surprised if they get a couple of victories along the way.

"We're going to make sure we learn our lessons and be very clear about what we need to get out of this week.

"We've now got a great opportunity to be back at Twickenham in front of our own fans and really give them something to smile about."

England host Wales next Saturday, with Warren Gatland's side having gone down 26-27 at home to Scotland in Cardiff.

Defending Grand Slam champions Ireland are heavy favourites to retain their crown after beating France 38-17 in Marseille last night.

Borthwick was pleased his team were able to avoid a banana skin in Rome but knows there is plenty of work to be done for last year's Rugby World Cup semi-finalists to challenge the Irish.

He said: "I was very pleased the players found a way to get the result. There were areas we've improved upon from where we've been and it was brilliant to see five players making their debut in a Six Nations game, which doesn't happen very often.

"Having said that, there are plenty of areas that need to be better. We allowed Italy to score too easily and in that first half, while we had lots of possession in the attacking half, we didn't break the line as much as we wanted to. We'll be looking very closely at that."