England managed just three second-half points against Italy

The laboured 23-19 victory over Italy in Rome on Sunday came just over a week after Brian Ashton's men imploded at Twickenham in a 26-19 defeat by Wales.

But prop Stevens said: "I believe we can still win the Six Nations. If we go to Paris and Edinburgh and win there, we then finish at home against Ireland.

"It could turn out to be a championship where nobody gets a Grand Slam."

At Rome's Stadio Flaminio, it looked like England were going to let victory slip through their fingers for a second successive game.

In their Six Nations opener against Wales the World Cup finalists blew a 13-point lead, and on Sunday - after leading 20-6 at the break - England managed just three second-half points to give Italy a whiff of an upset.

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Stevens, who came into the side in Rome because of a late illness to captain Phil Vickery, believes the injuries to Brian Ashton's squad had contributed to a below-par start to the campaign.

Centre Mike Tindall and flanker Tom Rees are certain to miss the remaining Six Nations fixtures, while David Strettle is recovering from a serious foot injury and influential prop Andrew Sheridan also missed the trip to Rome because of an infection.

"We are a new team, and a team forced to make a lot of changes through injury," the Bath prop added.

"Winning in Rome is no longer anything like a gimme.

We know we need to up it another level, and I am confident it will come Andy Gomarsall

"We made some mistakes again under pressure, and the second half could have been better. But we've won away from home and we can build on this."

Scrum-half Andy Gomarsall was also optimistic ahead of England's next match against France in Paris.

"We want to achieve great things, and clearly we won't the way we are playing at the moment," he admitted.

"But I cannot emphasise how much that win, for the confidence of the team, will be a real stepping stone.

"We know we need to up it another level, and I am confident it will come.

"France play from everywhere, they've got great threats and they are playing some good rugby, so it's a mouth-watering prospect ahead of us."

England travel to Paris to face France on Saturday 23 February at 2000 GMT.