WE'VE LEARNED OUR LESSONS

TWELVE months ago we made a disastrous start to the Five Nations championship against the French in Paris. But the lessons of that day have been learned and we go into tomorrow's clash with Scotland ready for the kind of passionate challenge they produced against Wales at Murrayfield.

The French defeat was hard to take because English spirits had been lifted by the draw with New Zealand a couple of months earlier. But we failed to carry that standard of play into the match with France.

Now, in similar circumstances, we face the Scots after our great win over South Africa in December. We have, as an England squad, tried to ensure the momentum is not allowed to drift this time. We have met regularly, mainly in two groups with the South West and London lads getting together for skills sessions, while the North and Midlands squad members have their own sessions at Leicester. Coach Clive Woodward has also brought us together as a single unit and those sessions have been very important in keeping the spirit alive. When we assemble as a squad you have to make sure the players don't sit around in their club groups because it's important not to have any factions. The aim is to move our game on again against Scotland, but you cannot take anything for granted in international rugby and we have to make things happen. The Scots will come out firing on all cylinders, especially up front. They will attempt to disrupt us continually but we must get quick ball to play a faster game and force open the gaps. That's the way to get our Grand Slam challenge off to a flying start.

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