I think we could be pretty hard on England; several tries from Italy's mistakes (poor Bergamasco, if he had been in the pack from the off and a proper scrum half in, the game could have been very close, I think), little control, Sackey playing like a flanker in the last 20 mins just to get his hands on the ball, dumb sin-binnings, etc. From watching Premiership & Heineken Cup games, we have talent but we don't seem to use it in the game.
The huge difference between the two games yesterday was the response to kicking; England & Italy started the dreaded ping-pong, whilst France ran back nearly every Irish clearance, and looked like getting through nearly every time, edge of the seat stuff. Mind you, with Carney at full back and Geordan Murphy on the bench, there's no point in testing the full back with high balls... Great game to watch, loads of skill and endeavour.
Looking forward to Scotland v. Wales too, could be close.
And I need to get over to the rant thread to kick off about the maul ELVs. A great forward skill that should be brought back.