We can push on from Wales win, says England's Borthwick

CARDIFF : England still looked a considerable distance behind Ireland and France but took a notable step forward as their 20-10 Cardiff victory over a ragged Wales took them to safely "mid-table" in the Six Nations on Saturday.

England were on top for most of the game but led by only five points until Ollie Lawrence scored their third try five minutes from time.

Their first win in Cardiff since 2017 should have been by a greater margin as Wales barely threatened and scored a solitary try through a Louis Rees-Zammit intercept at the start of the second half.

After the free-flowing action in Ireland's victory over Italy in the early kick off the game in Cardiff felt considerably more conservative but for the victorious coach involved the result was everything.

"I thought first half our intent to try and get the ball to the edge, that was an improvement," said England coach Steve Borthwick.

"It didn't keep going like that. It turned into a pressure contest. Clearly our breakdown needed to be better and you’ve got to credit the Welsh jacklers. But as we’re in this process, we need to keep these players growing.

"There were bits in that performance that we can really push on with. We’ve got two big games to finish the Championship (at home to defending champions France and away to leaders Ireland)."

Borthwick recognised the physical and mental effort of the Welsh team, who had lost their first two games heavily and spent much of the last week negotiating with their union while threatening a strike that would have forced the postponement of Saturday's game.

"Those Welsh players deserve such enormous credit and respect to go through what they've gone through and put in a performance like that," Borthwick said.

England captain Owen