England fly-half George Ford has admitted that he and his teammates did not play at their best during Saturday's win over Italy in the Six Nations.

Stuart Lancaster's side came from behind at Twickenham to record a 47-17 triumph against the Azzurri.

Despite making it two wins from their opening two matches of the tournament, Ford believes that England will have to improve when they travel to Ireland in their next game on March 1.

"It wasn't a complete performance," he told BBC Sport. "We started poorly and we have to sort that out, but Italy are a good team and have some brilliant players. It takes time to break them down and that's what you saw happen.

"We didn't start the game with a great attitude in defence, but we got the ball, upped the intensity and kept upping the score. We're delighted to get two wins out of two but we have lots of things to work on and it will be a hard game in Dublin."

Saturday's result saw Italy lose their second consecutive game of this year's Six Nations.