2011 SIX NATIONS: ENGLAND v ITALY
Venue: Twickenham Stadium Date: Saturday, 12 February Kick-off: 1430 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC One from 1400, and on the Red Button; listen on BBC Radio 5 live; live text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles

Easter is one of England's leaders in a team that is packed with experience

Nick Easter admits England have issues to tackle if they are to become the world's best Test team.

England battled to an impressive 26-19 Six Nations win over Wales on Friday, but both manager Martin Johnson and Easter insist there is work to do.

"Last time [in 2010] we painted over a few cracks rather than address problems," stated the number eight.

"If you want to be the world's best - and nobody's hiding from the fact that we do - we must iron out our problems."

Easter said lessons must be learned from last year's Six Nations, when England finished third behind Grand Slam winners France and Ireland.

"We beat Wales convincingly at home, won in Italy and thought we were there," he said. "[But] we didn't win a game after that.

"We realised we weren't really on the right track in certain aspects - and one of those was the honesty calls. It's a big shift of approach but that's what you must do. You have to be brutally honest."

Immediately after Friday's victory at the Millennium Stadium, Johnson stressed that England can improve and that, though they would enjoy the win, "rollockings" would be handed out on Monday when the team returned to training.

On Sunday he warned against the public expecting nothing less than a routine home win in England's next match against Italy on Saturday.

"Wales was a big emotional game with lots of build-up, a lot said and it was a great occasion," he said.

"We have to perform whatever the build-up. We have to set our standards higher and be better than we were this week.

"We have to handle this well and turn up next week and produce with the same amount of energy, tempo and improve our execution.

"The expectation with Italy is always a little bit wrong. They are very awkward and tough. They keep the ball away from you, they don't concede a lot of points and they are a pretty good team.

"It is important we get the mindset right. Until you play the next one, this is your toughest game."

Johnson will not make unnecessary changes for the fixture but he could have Hendre Fourie available after the Leeds flanker returned from a calf injury.

If Fourie is selected, either James Haskell or Tom Wood will have to be sacrificed from the back row.

Extended highlights - Wales v England

Yet Northampton flanker Wood, 24, was hugely impressive on his debut against Wales - so much so that stand-in captain Mike Tindall compared him to 2003 World Cup winner Richard Hill, who won 76 Test caps, including five for the Lions, while playing in all three back-row positions for England.

"I thought he was outstanding," said Tindall.

"Everywhere I seemed to look there he was. You talk about players putting their hand up and taking chances when they come along - well he took a massive step against Wales.

"I think he is definitely in that Richard Hill mould. Richard went under the radar. You have to look at film to see how good he was but I thought Tom was outstanding - he was everywhere."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version