Italy vs. England: 5 Key Battles That Will Shape 2016 RBS 6 Nations Clash

England travel to Italy looking to build on last week's winning performance against Scotland.

But coach Eddie Jones' men will not find an Azzurri side lacking confidence after an opening day trip to Paris.

Their first match was predicted to see them thumped by France, but in the end they were unlucky to go down by just two points having led for large parts of the contest.

On home soil, the Italians will be eager to build on that display.

Let's assess the key battlegrounds for Sunday's Valentine's Day dust-up.

Carlo Canna left the field knowing his first-half misses in front of goal ultimately cost his side a famous win in the Stade de France.

But the new No. 10 for Italy also emerged with plenty of credit for the way he orchestrated his back line, and he cut a brave and brilliant line to score one of his team's three tries, too.

Canna faces George Ford, who was quiet at Murrayfield and is perhaps struggling in the shadow of Owen Farrell playing outside him. Ford has been out of sorts for Bath and does not have the goal-kicking duties for England, painting him as the junior of the pair.

Canna has the opportunity to outshine his English opponent, while Ford may see this as the chance to stamp his mark on the game if his pack can get him plenty of go-forward ball.

Italy executed a textbook rolling maul try against France last weekend, and England will have pored over the footage to see where they can drive a pole through the cogs of what looks like a well-oiled machine.

The Italians will go to this tactic early on to see if they can yield the same results, throwing long and moving the point of attack quickly to negate any attempt by their opposition to stifle them before they can get going.

It will be up to England to be wise enough to the ploy to try and stop it, but a well-drilled maul can often be an incredibly difficult beast to cage.

The two standout performers of week one were England and Italy's respective No. 8s.

Billy Vunipola and Sergio Parisse were comfortably men of their respective matches and collide this weekend with crucial roles to play.

Both are their teams' best ball-carriers, so whoever can establish camp beyond the other's gainline will hand his side the momentum.

Both sides’ outside centres have the craft and ingenuity to create moments of brilliance for their teams.

We saw Jonathan Joseph at Murrayfield attempting to fix his man with a little stop and go and vey nearly skating around the outside with that nought-to-60 pace of his that ripped Italy apart in his debut last season.

Michele Campagnaro is a different sort of threat, a more direct runner but no less effective in space.

He was desperately unlucky not to score after a great break from Canna last week. Both men will be looking for that premium space in the wide channels on Sunday.

He who finds it will have the freedom of the Eternal City.

Italy’s relatively callow front row did well against their vaunted French opposites last week and may sense a chance to have a go at England in this area.

Joe Marler has been dropped after struggling against WP Nel, and Mako Vunipola comes in.

The Saracens man has improved from the 2013 version who proved so vulnerable against Australia for the Lions and will need to be on his mettle to deal with the experienced Lorenzo Cittadini.

Dan Cole has many more miles on the clock than his opponent Andrea Lovotti and needs to make them count.