Ben Foden will be haunted by the mistakes that forced England to come from behind to beat Italy in the Six Nations at the Stadio Olimpico.

Giovanbattista Venditti crosses after Foden's blunder

The England full-back is desperate to atone for the errors, which gifted Italy two tries in as many minutes as the Azzurri opened a 15-6 lead early in the second half in freezing conditions.

An awkward bounce, a deflection and Foden's mix-up with Ben Youngs gifted Italy their first try, scored by the wing Giovanbattista Venditti.

If Foden was unfortunate with the first, he takes full responsibility for the second when his off-load was intercepted and Tommaso Benvenuti scored under the posts.

England clawed their way back into the game with a second charge-down try from Charlie Hodgson and they sealed a 19-15 win thanks to a perfect kicking display from Owen Farrell.

Foden was relieved to have been bailed out but that intercept will live with him for a fortnight - until England next take the field, against Wales at Twickenham.

"If we had lost, I would have blamed myself completely,'' Foden said.

"I will probably still go to bed and relive that moment. It wasn't my best day at the office.

"The second mistake was probably a little bit to do with the first try. I was trying to push the ball a bit too hard.

"I trucked it up the middle, managed to get my arms free and thought the pass was on for Charlie.

"Time slows down to virtually a standstill. Their 13 has got it and it was probably the longest 40-metre run-in I have had to watch.

"I was annoyed with myself. I always hold my hands up and say: 'My fault.'

"The guys all say forget about it because they know things like that happen and I don't need reminding it was my error.

"The guys were positive. They knew we could rally, the game wasn't lost and we had time to get back into it.

"It was a test of my character to come back out (after half-time) and not let it affect my game too much. Hopefully I'll get the chance to right the wrongs.''

England have two wins from their opening two games but neither have been pretty affairs, relying more on dogged determination than any attacking ability.

Foden and his wings Chris Ashton and David Strettle are beginning to get frustrated by their lack of opportunities to cause some damage.

The Northampton star believes England can use that to their advantage when Wales arrive at Twickenham because no-one knows how good this new-look team could be when they attack at full pelt.

"The elements have not been perfect so far - wet and windy at Murrayfield and then snowy, wet and bitterly cold here,'' Foden said.

"It is not ideal for a back three. We want to see the ball moved wide. Ashy is getting pretty frustrated, he wants to be scoring tries.

"We haven't shown too much of our attacking prowess. Wales will know we still have that in our locker.

"Hopefully it will be a nice day and we can play some good rugby.''

But if the weather remains poor, Wales will also be aware of England's ability to grind out results.

They were fortunate in Rome that Italy wasted eight points a missed conversion and two missed penalties that could have won them the game.

But then England were denied a perfectly-good try after referee Gerome Garces failed to play advantage after Strettle had been checked in midfield as he chased his own kick.

"It is a mentality. We are winning. We are not playing great rugby but we are winning,'' Foden said.

"That is a good thing for any great team - by no means are we great but we are on the right path, we are a young side showing the maturity to see out tight games.

"All eyes will be on this new-look England team playing at Twickenham against one of the top sides in the world.

"We have to step up another gear now. We know how good the Welsh are.''