Ben Youngs says the England players will continue to "bust a gut" for each other because of the club culture that has been established by interim coach Stuart Lancaster.

Leicester Tigers' scrum-half starts against Italy in Rome today in the same team that beat Scotland 13-6 in last Saturday's RBS 6 Nations opener.

He believes the team spirit that has been harnessed will stand England in good stead in their bid to start the tournament with successive away wins.

Youngs, 22, said: "It has been a fresh start for us and there is a different feel about. Saturday's win may not have been perfect but we showed what it means to play for England.

"The feeling of camaraderie after a game like that was pretty special. We played with our hearts on our sleeves and Chris Robshaw's leadership was outstanding.

"To be together for just two weeks and then get England's first win there since 2004 was big.

"I even got a message from my dad (former England scrum-half Nick) saying 'enjoy it' because it doesn't happen very often.

"We stayed strong and believed in ourselves and we were pleased with our discipline because that was appalling at the World Cup.

"Stuart has tried to set a club culture up where you are the best of mates. That is hard to achieve but we have that already. If everyone buys into the culture, the strategy, the defence and attack, we should continue to do well.

"We all believe in it and that is why guys are busting their guts to get back and tackle and cover for others."

England thrashed Italy 59-13 at home last season on their way to the Six Nations crown. But Youngs was impressed with Italy in their defeat by France last weekend.

He said: "It will be a tough one. I saw the Italians against France and they looked good. Italy are no longer the wooden-spooners. They will be looking to owe us one.

"We know we have a lot of things to work on. We need to keep the ball better and protect it in contact. We also need to put some phases together because we lost the ball too quickly at Murrayfield.

"We were scrappy in attack and, when we tried to get momentum, we were our own worst enemies, turning over lots of ball. That was particularly disappointing."