The best thing about Saturday's win at Twickenham - from an English perspective - was Martin Johnson's honest assessment straight after the game.

In his first year or so he has often held victory as some sort of justification for all matters England in its own right. Not so after the win against Wales.

Whilst not dismissing the performance, he was sharp enough in his immediate analysis. It was a win but there was an awful lot of room for improvement.

Johnson: less guarded about England's failings

He was absolutely right and the fact that he now seems to have sufficient confidence should allow England to stretch their ambitions on the field with a management blunt enough to come clean on the deficiencies.

A management shorn of self-criticism is going nowhere in a hurry. That was the becalmed state of England for a while but there seems hope that the side is finally moving.

Moving but slowly; Danny Care, Nick Easter and Dylan Hartley apart, few were that keen to take up the challenge of the management before the game and play the game (within a structured framework) as they saw it.

But the side has been emasculated by the last 12 months and progress will be slow but at least there is a hint of progress. I would love to see England make a few personnel changes for Italy and accelerate the game by including the bold Northampton duo of Ben Foden and Chris Ashton.

Neither are finished articles and I am not sure whether I would want the full-back anywhere near the team for Ireland, but these men have to start adding international to their Heineken and club experience if they are to function at maximum capacity come the World Cup.

Italy should be comfortable for all the polite pre-match talk we will hear. The Italian pack is not what it was and whilst Rome is a morale booster, the gulf in class between Italy and England should be far too great for any chance of a shock; hence a few changes and hence hope that England will build on their first game.

Suffer

Wales will be training in sack cloths this week. They should suffer for the way they helped England.

Alun Wyn Jones is only the headline act of madness; the drip, drip despair of the line-out losses was almost as bad as was the feeble goal kicking. Forget the 'ifs' and 'buts', Wales did not win but they have to believe they could and should have because defeat at home to Scotland would spell a crisis.

That shouldn't occur. Contrast the class of James Hook with the mediocrity of the Scottish back line (Sean Lamont aside).

The absence of an international-class fly-half is like a dam to their attacking aspirations and hinders brighter talents like the Evans brothers. Expect Scotland to give their all. But win? It will take some Welsh complicity for that thought to become reality.

Grandstand

Harder to predict is the weekend's grandstand game. France versus Ireland will be billed as a potential title decider although it is too early to make such an assertion.

France have the immediate form lines from the weekend but I thought Ireland eased down to second gear after zooming to an early 20-odd-point lead. Ronan O'Gara may have played his way into the fly-half shirt ahead of the unlikely Jonny Sexton; he will need to kick with the same control and accuracy under the greater pressure of Paris.

The likely return of Stephen Ferris will be vital to help combat the powerful French back row for whom Imanol Harinordoquy has attained a lofty position as the best Number Eight in the world.

Morgan Parra has a touch of the Petit Generals about him, Francois Trinh Duc is improving and the front row looks ravenous. France at home must be favourites but these Irish men know a thing or two about pressure rugby and winning in France.

Call the result at your peril. Now to this week's mail....

Stuart answers your emails...

Got a question for Stuart? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form below...

TRIP REPLACEMENT?
Stuart, Shocking bit of stupidity from Alun Wyn Jones and one that cost us the game. Warren Gatland has publicly given him a dressing down and I imagine behind closed doors, the dressing down will be violent and prolonged. Gatland hinted that the act could result in a dropping - we aren't blessed with depth at lock and need to be at our best / strongest next week but dropping the dopey sod would drive home the message that idiocy like that isn't tolerated and that no-one is immune from the chop. What do you think? Michael Evans

STUART SAYS: Michael, instinctive is how Warren Gatland described it which worries me; tripping wasn't always an instinctive thought but from a Welsh perspective should the team not be more concerned with the failure to cope with a missing man? Fifteen against 14 rarely results in a 17-0 score line so yes, AWJ has to take some blame but it should be shared around a little. Don't Wales prepare for such an eventuality? It is not, after all, a rarity.

JONNY BE GOOD?
Dear Mr Barnes. Enough with the negative waves directed towards Jonny Wilkinson. Amazing how no one used to bring up Jonny's inability to set the backs running when we won the World Cup! I can't imagine he has got worse. His kicking is invaluable and the team merely need to play together more and play to their strengths. Anyone who thinks Charlie Hodgson would be a better option should be immediately certified - he doesn't have the bottle! Neil Hayes

STUART SAYS: Neil, Jonny Wilkinson's form was pretty mediocre for most of the World Cup - a magnificent display in the rain against France apart - and yes, it was a concern to the England camp. The reason people like myself were non-critical from 1999-2003 however is because he played beautifully. Aggressive positional play, sublime passing skills but for whatever reason he HAS got worse and much worse. And what has Charlie Hodgson to do with any criticism of Wilkinson? The two men are not inextricably linked, except perhaps in the mind of people who take an overly defensive position to any constructive criticism of England's fly-half. He may be a national hero but it doesn't make him any more immune to honest assessment than say, Steve Borthwick, who to his credit, performed really well at the weekend... but then again Wales are neither New Zealand, nor Australia. So let's see some real quality before knocking the knockers too hard.

SAFETY SECOND?
Have England been guilty of 'overcoaching' their players Stuart? When England were not playing well did the RFU (as governments can sometimes do) simply throw money at the problem instead of acknowledging that perhaps expectations were too high? Was / is there really a need for an 'elite director of sport?' The next 'solution' touted was that they didn't have enough time to practise and the coaches needed more time to tell them what to do. Yet when I see England games I often get the impression that players are in two minds between doing what they would naturally do and knowing that they don't want to incur the wrath of management by going beyond the script in a team in which their place is under constant threat. For a club they can be fairly confident of their position and so have more confidence to express themselves in a way they want to. Fred Bell

STUART SAYS: Fred, I think there was a tacit admittance prior to the Welsh game that the management has indeed been too 'proscriptive'. That is the vogue word. It was thus under Andy Robinson and Brian Ashton tried to liberate them from the tyranny of the touchline coach but bad habits developed and England reverted to safety en route to the World Cup final which led others to think Englishman can't think for themselves... they can but they won't unless the mind is trained accordingly. On Saturday the team were slow to rid themselves of the coaching chains, even though they were granted some freedom to play. That is because of the bad habits formed at club and national level. This ability to think on their feet is the most important challenge for Martin Johnson and his management. All is not perfect but, as I wrote in the column, a start has been made which is belated but good news.

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