Dawson: England should be proud

By Matt Dawson England international and BBC Sport Online columnist

A lot of people will look at our win over Italy and say it was an anti-climax.

But I think we can take a lot of positives from the match in Rome. I thought we played pretty well and scored some exciting tries.

We made a few mistakes, and maybe we were not as clinical as we should have been.

We will probably read in the papers that we should have scored more tries, but this was never going to be as easy a game as some people claimed.

Although some people may have had problems getting motivated to watch the game, it was not an issue for us

Matt Dawson

Our rucking and mauling was outstanding, even when the Italians came out with a lot of passion.

Not that there was any lack of passion from us.

After the French won against Ireland, we knew that the Six Nations title was beyond our grasp.

But although some people may have had problems getting motivated to watch the game, it was not an issue for us.

After all, this was a Test match where we were representing our country.

Besides, there were a lot of fans who came all the way out here to watch us and we wanted to perform for them.

We lost the Grand Slam and the Six Nations title when we lost to France - we did not lose it when France beat Ireland.

I was delighted to get on the field. I was in pretty good company on the bench - and coming on with Lawrence Dallaglio, Martin Johnson and Jason Leonard was pretty remarkable.

I was in good company on the bench

I think the four of us have about 300 caps between us!

It was great to have Lawrence back. A player of that quality coming back in the side is bound to be a huge boost.

Despite what some people have said about the Six Nations, I think the tournament's been a huge success.

It's produced some great rugby, and it finished on a high with France taking the Grand Slam, although obviously I would have preferred it if it was England celebrating.

I think the England team is still progressing, and our set-up is world class.

But with the World Cup on the horizon, we have to ensure we maintain our standards - and make sure we continue to get better and better.