Six Nations round-up: Nick Easter calls for honesty amongst the England ranks

England No.8 Nick Easter

Nick Easter says England need to be honest with themselves and address their problems now if they’ve any hope of clinching the Six Nations, despite beating Wales in Cardiff on Friday.

The No.8 reckons they “painted over a few cracks” last year, rather than fill in the holes that cost them the competition.

“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,” he told BBC Sport.

“We realised we weren't really on the right track in certain aspects [last year] - 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.”

And ahead of their next match at home to Italy on Saturday, coach Martin Johnson is also refusing to get carried away despite an emotional win over their arch-rivals. He added: “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.”

Scotland coach Andy Robinson has bemoaned Scotland’s lack of conviction after the French dismantled them in Paris on Saturday.

Les Bleus ran out 34-21 winners in an imposing display at the Stade de France, and Robinson’s reaction was one of mixed emotions: “I'm delighted with the attitude but we have to be ruthless. It's key for us to improve that. We're here to win Tests.

“I've told them how disappointed I am that France have scored four tries when we had the ball. That's unacceptable.”

Relief was stark on the face of Brian O’Driscoll following his Ireland side’s last gasp victory over Italy in Rome. The Azzuri looked set for a first ever win against Ireland holding their lead until the 78th minute but a Ronan O’Gara drop-goal stole celebrations from them.

O’Driscoll said: “Thankfully we won, which is probably the only thing we can take out of the game. It is a great result to come back. With four minutes left we needed a drop-goal and we got one.”

Lyall Thomas

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