Wales shake up England

Jason Robinson admits England will have to find another gear against France after their chariot spluttered back into life against Wales. England’s “Billy Whiz” was kept quiet by a brave Welsh performance until a stunning late burst in their 31-21 win. He knows that the World Champions must find something new weapon in their arsenal to beat Grand Slam chasing France in Paris next Saturday.

“We knew we had to improve in every area to beat Wales and we will have to get better again for Saturday,” said Robinson. “A lot had been said about the Ireland game and we were honest in admitting that we didn’t play well, but we put a lot of our problems right.

“We saw what a fine line there is between winning and losing and the boys were probably a lot more focussed against Wales. Everyone expects us to win these games by thirty odd points but it just doesn’t happen like that.

“We knew the threat they posed after their performances in the Rugby World Cup and watching the videos of them, we were well aware that they are really moving in the right direction. They had nothing to lose against us at Twickenham, the played with great spirit and caused us problems, but I think we responded well in the final twenty minutes when it mattered.

“We knew we had to turn things around to get anything from this championship because we really didn’t want to slip behind any further so the win sets it all up for the game against France.”

Meanwhile, Robinson backed young outside-half Ollie Barkley who weighed in with sixteen points, kicking six from seven, on a near faultless full debut for England: “It was a big ask of him to step in late, given all the pressure that was on after the Ireland game, but he really did a job.”