By Bryn Palmer BBC Sport at Twickenham

Owen believes Wales will rise again

Vice-captain Michael Owen insists the crushing defeat to England will not undermine Wales' recent resurgence.

"It is certainly not a disaster," Owen told BBC Sport. "It's funny, we have lost by 30 points but it doesn't feel like we have been hammered.

"We had a bad spell in the last 20 minutes but I don't think there is anything ominous about that.

"We had a chance to win and if we get our game right we can still have a good championship - it is not over for us."

Owen rejected suggestions that Wales were unable to cope with the power of England's pack.

"Fair play to England, they did really well and finished us off at the end," he said. "But I don't think we were overpowered. We coped with England - they had a couple of big drives, but we had one or two as well.

"It was not a power factor, we were just not as precise as we would have liked. If we had been, we could have won because we got behind them three or four times.

Maybe we were a bit too ambitious Michael Owen

"But they forced crucial turnovers in their 22. If we had scored in those situations it could have been a different scenario."

Wales showed no signs of abandoning the thrilling style of running rugby that took them to the Grand Slam last season.

But as England's defence held firm, their increasingly desperate attempts to turn the tide eventually led to a crushing defeat.

"Maybe we were a bit too ambitious and overdid it a bit, but that is the way we play," Owen added. "I don't think it cost us the game.

"It was just a case of spilling too much ball. When it is close the little things add up and we made too many mistakes. Last year when we did that people were covering them, and we didn't manage to do that.

"But we have still got four games to go, with three at home. We know if we get our game right we can beat anybody."