England have lost all three of their RBS 6 Nations appointments so far but Stevens, the 22-year-old Bath prop who will make only his second England start at Twickenham on Saturday, believes each setback has simply made the squad stronger.

''The boys have started to strengthen their resolve to win. We are in a transition phase at the moment but hopefully just for a while, Stevens said.

We are building something here together and I think there are a lot of very talented players.
''It doesn't matter we have lost the games by a couple of points - a couple of points or 50 points, we lost the game. We have to put that right.

''It's not about always winning games when playing well, it's about winning games when playing badly that counts.

''We want to play really well this week but we have to close out and win the games and that is what is important.''

England have never failed to put at least 40 points past Italy in the Six Nations and the expectation from red rose supporters leaves them in something of a no-win situation.

''It plagues the back of your mind,'' admitted Stevens.

''But you can't let all these pressures affect you. Two weeks ago we were going up against Ireland and we had lost the first two games. It was unprecedented in England's Six Nations campaigns.

''We had to take the attitude, 'What are we going to do about that?''

''This week we have to think about the technical aspects of how to beat Italy. You can't think, 'What if we lose?''

''Italy have proved you must take them seriously. They have shown that to a lot of sides, they take the game to sides and it is a big test for us.

''It will be a big test for our pack. They have definitely proved to be a really good pack and it's something we have noted and we will go into this game wary of that.''