By Phil Harlow BBC Sport at Stadio Flaminio

England scored just three points and conceded 13 in the second half

"A game of two halves." Pretty much the oldest cliche in the sporting book.

But England are fast becoming a living cliche as a team of two halves. Their nasty habit of collapsing after half-time is threatening to bring a swift end to the optimism created by their run to last year's World Cup final.

The 23-19 win over Italy on Sunday was a win but not much more. It failed to mask the major problems that head coach Brian Ashton is going to have to address if the much-vaunted potential of the side is to see the light of day.

Two tries and the boot of Jonny Wilkinson swept England to a more than handy 20-6 lead when they went in for their half-time cuppa.

But the second half was a different story as Italy upped their game and England - World Cup finalists a few months ago - found themselves unable to cope.

A quick look at the stats suggests that England have not been a second-half force for some time

For England fans, it was a nasty case of deja vu, bringing back all kinds of nightmare memories of their collapse against Wales last weekend.

In his post-match press conference, Ashton felt able to draw a distinction between the two games - after all, one ended in victory, the other in defeat.

"It's pretty well chronicled that we actually folded last week, which is not a very nice thing to happen at international level in any sport. But I didn't think we did this week despite being under the cosh," said Ashton.

"At no stage was I sat in the stand - as I was last week - thinking 'We're going to throw this one away'."

But for most of the England fans inside the Stadio Flaminio watching their side try to hold onto a four-point lead with five minutes to go, the difference was not difficult to spot.

ENGLAND'S LAST 6 TESTS England 36-20 Tonga - Tait & Farrell second-half tries England 12-10 Australia- No second-half tries France 9-14 England - No second-half tries England 6-15 South Africa - No second-half tries England 19-26 Wales - No second-half tries Italy 19-23 England - No second-half tries

The problem has leapt to prominence in the last two weeks with two pretty dismal collapses from comfortable positions.

But a quick look at the stats suggests that England have not been a second-half force for some time.

The last time England scored a try in the second half of a match was when Andy Farrell - remember him? - went over after 66 minutes of the group stage win against Tonga at the World Cup.

Since the Tonga match, in five second halves - that's 240 minutes of international rugby - England have scored just 24 points, all from Wilkinson's left boot.

The second half should be when superior fitness, skills and game management really tell. A time when good teams put their opponents to the sword and pile on the points.

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So what is going wrong? Are England not fit enough? Not clever enough? Or is it just a case of bad luck with all the injuries they have had to contend with?

Ashton avoided going into too many specifics, but did concede there was a genuine problem that England need to solve.

"We've not had the two best second halves in the last two weeks certainly," said Ashton, somewhat understatedly.

England's dynamism visibly wilted in the second half, but can the fitness of these finely tuned athletes, honed to within an inch of their lives by nutritionists, conditioners and an army of helpers really be the problem?

In this day and age, the gaps between fitness levels at the elite end of the sport are narrowing all the time. Italy are not a pub team turning up for a jolly; their players are at Stade Francais, Leicester and Biarritz and are more than capable of fronting up in the fitness stakes.

England looked exhausted at the end of the match

The wisdom of some of England's tactical play after the break was questionable to say the least, with aimless tactical kicking handing the ball back to a resurgent Italy time after time.

Ashton's substitution of Wilkinson, with a good 15 minutes to go, seemed somewhat premature at the time and so it proved with the precocious Danny Cipriani trying to do too much and handing Italy a try on a plate.

Surely defending an 11-point lead with 65 minutes on the clock was just what Wilkinson, with more than 1,000 points for England to his name, was in the team for?

The established half-time routine in the England dressing room is said to be three minutes of changing shirts, three minutes from Ashton and defence coach Mike Ford, three minutes from the captain and a minute to return to the pitch.

Whatever is being said at the moment in those crucial 10 minutes clearly isn't working as it should, regardless of the number of injuries England may have to contend with.

But with an in-form France next up on the Six Nations fixture list, Ashton remains confident.