Win has given us Millennium momentum

While England haven't set the Six Nations alight, we have generated some much needed momentum for our next challenge - keeping 80,000 Wales fans quiet in Cardiff on Saturday.

I enjoy playing at the Millennium Stadium and the Welsh crowd will be crying out for an English defeat and we have to deal with this pressure and the amazing noise that is generated.

One things we won't encounter in Cardiff is a flanker playing scrum-half and I really felt for Mauro Bergamasco on Saturday.

It's fair to say Italy gave away "own" tries because of their scrum-half's problems and what made it even harder to understand was the impact Guilio Toniolatti made when he took over at No9 after half-time. He played pretty well and made it even more mystifying why coach Nick Mallett hadn't taken someone off after 20 minutes to bring on a specialist scrum half and allow Bergamasco to play flanker.

Getting the campaign off to a winning start is vital as an early setback leaves things looks pretty black and we can take confidence from the victory. If England do great things in the Six Nations then we will, to a great extent, forget about this match.

There are still areas that need improvement, including discipline. The problem can result from a lack of trust in those around you. A defence that is clearly on top very rarely gives away penalties because everyone is in sync and understands there is no need to chance your arm as the opposition will eventually cough up the ball.

Another aspect of our play that needs to be spot on in Cardiff is the kicking game because we cannot allow their back three to counter attack and that means being more positive with the ball.