Lewis in good Moody as England improve

England captain Lewis Moody believes the team can improve another 30% after ending a generally lacklustre RBS 6 Nations campaign with a positive performance in a 12-10 defeat to France in Paris on Saturday night.

Martin Johnson's side have been criticised for a lack of invention and dynamism but they more than held their own against France, giving stand-in skipper Moody plenty of cause for optimism.

The Leicester man told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "We started off well against Wales but we didn't keep that momentum going. If we had done we would certainly have been competing for a Grand Slam against France. We lost to Ireland in the last couple of minutes and we drew a game against Scotland we should have won. It was all there for us. But this team knows where it has got to go now."

He added: "I know as a player how much this team has left to give, and we have another 30% to go as a team. We addressed that this week and that showed in the way we played.

"Knowing that gives me great confidence for the future."

Ben Foden's try was just reward for England's more positive approach but Moody could not hide his disappointment to come out on the losing side at the Stade de France.

"It's frustrating coming off the pitch knowing it was a game you could have won but we couldn't have asked any more of the team, we put every bit of ourselves into that game," he said.

"We kept them at bay all day, they never posed much of a threat in attack. I thought we played a lot of rugby but unfortunately we just couldn't finish it off."