Harlequins’ David Strettle was among the try-scorers as England Saxons ran out 31-5 winners over Italy A in Treviso.

Stuart Lancaster's men built on last week's 17-13 victory against Ireland A by putting in a dogged performance against a physical side.

England, who trailed 5-0 at half-time, hit back with second half tries from Miles Benjamin, Alex Good, Strettle and a penalty try.

Italy's only points came from scrum half Pablo Canavosio, who side stepped England's defence to go over in the 22nd minute.

An early second half Shane Geraghty penalty got England on the scoreboard and seemed to give them a much needed boost.

And in the 58th minute they added to their three points after Strettle raced up the wing offloading inside to Northampton's Phil Dowson to send Benjamin over, Geraghty added the conversion to ease the pressure.

England's hard working forwards were then rewarded by referee Andrew Macpherson with a penalty try and replacement Goode slotted the conversion to extend the lead to 17-5.

Cracks started to appear in Italy's defence in the last quarter and the Saxons dominated Goode scoring and converting his own try in 76th and then converting Strettle's effort who showed his blistering pace charging through midfield to finish on a 31-5 high.

Lancaster said, "It was a tough first half. Italy did very well they scored a good try and we needed to break them down. We changed in the second half to a more high tempo game.

"Simon (Hardy) and Andy (Farrell) have been first class in what they've delivered and they are really quality additions to the coaching team.

"We've worked hard with this group of players I'm pleased with they way they came back in the second half. It shows the quality we have and strength in depth of players that didn't have an opportunity last week but came through this week. And the result is through their hard work."

Italy A: 15 Paolo Buso (Futura Park Rugby Roma), 14 Michele Sepe (MPS Viadana), 13 Andrea Pratichetti (Femi-CZ Rovigo), 12 Matteo Pratichetti (MPS Viadana), 11 Samuele Pace (MPS Viadana), 10 Luciano Orquera (Brive), 9 Pablo Canavosio (MPS Viadana), 1 Franco Sbaraglini (Benetton Treviso), 2 Tommaso D'Apice (Futura Park Rugby Roma), 3 Ignacio Rouyet (Benetton Treviso), 4 Santiago Dellape' (Racing Metro Paris), 5 Tommaso Reato (Femi-CZ Rovigo), 6 Valerio Bernabo' (Futura Park Rugby Roma, captain), 7 Simone Favaro (Banca Monte Parma), 8 Manoa Vosawai (Banca Monte Parma) Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon (Banca Monte Parma) rep D'Apice (52), 17 Alberto De Marchi (Banca Monte Parma) rep Dellape' (60), 18 Mantvydas Tveraga (Banca Monte Parma), 19 Silvio Orlando (Benetton Treviso) rep Favaro (40), 20 Fabio Semenzato (Benetton Treviso) rep 9 (52), 21 Andrea Bacchetti, 22 Gilberto Pavan (Banca Monte Parma) rep Pratichetti (74) Scorers: Tries:Canavosio England Saxons: 15 Danny Cipriani (London Wasps), 14 David Strettle (Harlequins), 13 Jon Clarke (Northampton Saints), 12 Brad Barritt (Saracens), 11 Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors), 10 Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints), 9 Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons), 1 David Flatman (Bath Rugby), 2 Rob Webber (London Wasps), 3 Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester Rugby), 4 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), 5 George Skivington (London Wasps, captain), 6 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) 7 Hendre Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), 8 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints) Replacements:16 Rob Vickers (Newcastle Falcons) rep Webber (76), 17 Tom Mercey (Saracens) bld Flatman (18-28) rep Flatman (60), 18 Dave Attwood (Gloucester Rugby) rep Wood (60), 19 Tom Wood (Worcester Warriors) rep Fourie (58), 20 Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks) rep Young (40), 21 Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps) Parling, 22 Alex Goode (Saracens) rep Geraghty (50) Scorers: Tries: Benjamin, penalty, Goode, Strettle; Cons:Geraghty, Goode (3) Pens: Geraghty Referee: Andrew Macpherson (Scotland)