Six Nations: Mike Brown defends England conduct in tunnel against Wales

Full-back Mike Brown has explained England's delay in walking onto the pitch ahead of their Six Nations win in Wales.

Captain Chris Robshaw, knowing Wales' starting XV were still in their changing room, stood his ground in the tunnel when his team were instructed to make their entrance at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night.

Stuart Lancaster's men won a lively opener 21-16 and Brown has revealed his fears of the consequences of succumbing to Wales' plan to keep the new title favourites waiting on the pitch on a freezing night in Cardiff.

"It was obviously cold and we are athletes who had just warmed up," Brown said.

"The last thing we wanted to do was go outside and stand around while they put on a show for supporters. We thought it would be best to stay in the tunnel. Their officials wanted us to move out and a few 'kind' words were said between the two parties.

When the referee said it was time to go, we went. He came out with us. We weren't going to be told to go out 10 or 15 minutes before they came out

"We stayed where we were and I think we were in our right to do that. I said to one of the officials if they want to stand out in the cold they're welcome to do that, but we didn't want to do it.

"We are athletes, we want to stay warm. The last thing we want to do is to go out on the pitch and hang around, get cold again and pull something. We thought that we'd let them mess around and we'll stay warm.

"It wasn't about us standing our ground. We want to stay warm because we've got anthems and things like that. If they want to put on bit of a show for the fans, we don't need to see that - we'll stay warm in the tunnel."

The incident evoked memories of Martin Johnson's refusal to move his England team at Ireland's request as they lined up before completing a Grand Slam in Dublin 12 years ago.

Robshaw added: "We wanted to have a bit of control. We didn't want to be out there. You saw when we actually were out there the lights were off.

"I'm sure Wales would have made us wait for five minutes in the field. There was a little bit of that, but we stood our ground and went out when the referee said we needed to. We just didn't want to go out on to the pitch 10 minutes before they came out, it's as simple as that.

"We didn't want to play any tricks or mind games, we just wanted to go out when they did. The referee didn't make us go out. We didn't want to wait and play sportsman's tricks, so we waited in the changing room and then in the tunnel together for as long as possible.

"When the referee said it was time to go, we went. He came out with us. We weren't going to be told to go out 10 or 15 minutes before they came out."