ENGLAND boss Clive Woodward has attempted to play down the hype surrounding his Six Nations favourites ahead of the Twickenham clash against massive underdogs Italy.

Despite the accolades showered on England following a record 44-15 victory over Wales in Cardiff two weeks ago, Woodward has delivered a blunt assessment.

''Our performance against Wales was far from perfect,'' he claimed.

''We lost the ball 43 times, and we are nowhere near as good a team as people are making out.

''Technically, in Cardiff, we were nowhere near the standard we set against South Africa in Bloemfontein last summer.

''We have a long way to improve before we reach the level that we need to be at.

''I am excited by the players we have, but we did not play that well against Wales,'' he added.

''Losing the ball 43 times is not a great performance. We need to perform better on the basics and keep our feet on the ground.''

Woodward's words of caution though, are unlikely to be heeded by a 75,000 capacity crowd today.

They will expect points and tries by the bucketful, given an under-strength Italian side, a predicted sunny day and a dry, firm pitch.

Everything, it seems, is stacked in England's favour for another record-breaking afternoon.

The bookmakers certainly think so, making Woodward's men 1/150 favourites, with Italy at 25-1 and a draw 50-1.

''I know all about the odds being quoted, but they don't mean anything to me,'' Woodward insisted.

''Winning is the most important thing, and I just want to beat Italy and move on. We have been favourites before, and lost.

''Our preparation this week has been great, but that does not mean anything. We've trained brilliantly before, and got stuffed.

''I want the crowd to be patient. This is a good Italian team I don't want the crowd to under-estimate them.

''Their pack is very powerful, and they will have nothing to lose here.''

The Italian tight-five gave Ireland plenty of trouble in Rome last time out, yet abysmal defensive lapses allowed Rob Henderson to plunder three match-winning tries.

Behind the scrum, only Treviso left wing Denis Dallan has retained his starting position from that game as Azzurri coach Brad Johnstone administered essential surgery.

Roma centre Giovanni Raineri has the daunting task of filling injured fly-half Diego Dominguez's boots Ramiro Pez failed so miserably a fortnight ago while inexperienced, Argentine-born Manuel Queirolo is in at scrum-half.