• Italy 'A' 5-31 England Saxons

England Saxons overturn half-time deficit to win

Stuart Lancaster's men built on last week's 17-13 victory against Ireland 'A' © Getty Images

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England Saxons battled back from a first-half deficit to record their second victory in as many weeks with a 31-5 win over Italy 'A' in Treviso.

Stuart Lancaster's men built on last week's 17-13 victory against Ireland 'A' thanks to tries from Worcester's Miles Benjamin, Saracens' Alex Goode and Harlequins' David Strettle plus a penalty try. Goode added three conversion with fly-half Shane Geraghty weighing in with a penalty and a conversion of his own. The Italians' only points came courtesy of a first half try from scrum-half Pablo Canavosio that gave the hosts an unlikely lead at the break.

An early second half penalty from Geraghty got the Saxons on the scoreboard and seemed to give them a much needed boost but they had to wait until just short of the hour mark for their opening try when Strettle raced up the wing before offloading inside to Northampton's Phil Dowson who sent Benjamin over for the score. Geraghty added the conversion to ease the pressure.

England's hard working forwards were then rewarded by referee Andrew Macpherson with a penalty try and replacement Goode slotted the conversion to extend the lead to 17-5. Cracks started to appear in Italy's defence in the last quarter and the Saxons dominated Goode scoring and converting his own try four minutes from time and then converting Strettle's effort who showed his blistering pace charging through midfield to finish on a high.

Lancaster commented, "It was a tough first half. Italy did very well they scored a good try and we needed to break them down. We changed in the second half to a more high tempo game. Simon (Hardy) and Andy (Farrell) have been first class in what they've delivered and they are really quality additions to the coaching team.

"We've worked hard with this group of players I'm pleased with they way they came back in the second half. It shows the quality we have and strength in depth of players that didn't have an opportunity last week but came through this week. And the result is through their hard work."

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