Dylan Hartley felt confused after Italy's ruck strategy

England captain Dylan Hartley took responsibility of his team not being proactive against the ruckless tactics employed by Italy during the recent Six Nations encounter between the two teams at Twickenham.

The Grand Slam champions were caught off the guard after Azzurris failed to engage in rucks allowing their players to legally drift behind the tackle area without being offside leaving the hosts trailing by 5-10 at half-time.

It took England until the second half to realise the ploy used by Conor O'Shea's men and turn things around with five tries in the final 40 minutes to seal a 36-15 victory to keep their winning streak going.

Hartley along with James Haskell was seen in a conversation with referee Romain Poite as they were left curious about the rules.

When asked if he would study the law book in the wake of Sunday's events at Twickenham, Hartley said: "Of course I will. I have. I think we all know that law now. We're all pretty clear on that.

"I looked in my room (at the squad's Surrey training base) and there's a Bible next to the bed. I should probably replace that. For me it's a good lesson to brush up on the laws and know my stuff.

"I'll brush up by reading the book and talking to coaches. I don't actually possess a book - maybe I should get one? I'm brushed up."

The Northampton Saints hooker regretted on not to have reacted earlier than he did but nevertheless remained confident of a better response from England, if they face such a situation again.

"That was a Test match and it was a test that we passed. But we have looked at scenarios where if it happens again we can react more quickly. That is my biggest learning," he said.

"Hindsight is wonderful and if I could go back I would have seen what was happening earlier and dealt with it earlier. But it's a learning, it won't happen again.

"It took too long in the first half and that's my fault. I was trying to figure out what was happening. I was confused.

"Sometimes I saw one or two blue shirts in a ruck, thought it was a ruck but it wasn't until I saw (scrum-half) Edoardo Gori standing in our passing channel (that I realised what was happening)."

Our 6 Nations cover is sponsored by Allett Mowers