Ashton's new-look England blow hot and cold

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By Mitch Phillips

CARDIFF (Reuters) - England’s Six Nations campaign was as unpredictable as the weather, their performances blowing hot and cold.

They began promisingly with expected home wins over Scotland and Italy then bottomed out with a record defeat by Ireland. They raised expectations again by overwhelming France on a balmy Twickenham Sunday only to sign off with a one-sided defeat in a Siberian-style storm in Cardiff six days later.

During the six weeks of competition coach Brian Ashton, in charge for the first time, changed players, positions and philosophies in his attempt to fast-track the world champions back to the peak of the game after they lost eight games out of nine last year under Andy Robinson.

"It’s been an interesting Six Nations, that’s for sure," Ashton said after Saturday’s 27-18 defeat by Wales. "I’ve learnt a lot about personnel and learnt a lot about the mindset of the players."

England finished behind Ireland and champions France, which means they have come in third twice and fourth twice in the four tournaments since 2003 when they won the grand slam and World Cup.

There were signs of improvement, however.

The return of Jonny Wilkinson after three years of injury absence was a real fillip but even better was the ability of Toby Flood and Shane Geraghty .....continued below

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Flood offers a confident flyhalf alternative while Geraghty has all the exuberance that Ashton loves to see in his backs.

DESERVED PRAISE

New wing David Strettle deserves similar praise. He was good enough to force Josh Lewsey out of the squad, while Mathew Tait continues to develop his midfield talents and Harry Ellis has established himself as a reliable scrumhalf always liable to produce a key break.

The pack still lacks the authority of the days when Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and Richard Hill ruled but several youngsters have shown themselves willing to step up to the mark, not least flanker Tom Rees and there is more mobility than a year ago.

Ashton had a difficult job in some respects in that he had to win the first two home games against Scotland and Italy to settle the team down after a woeful 2006.

"You can split our Six Nations it into two phases -- the first three games and the second two," Ashton said.

"It’s pretty well chronicled that we picked a side that would hopefully win games against Scotland and Italy, which we did. We gave the same side the opportunity to play against Ireland and they were beaten very, very easily.

"It was fairly evident at that stage that we needed to change our approach and some of the personnel.

"That came good to a certain extent against France, though it was by no means the perfect game and at times against Wales there were signs that the path we want to go down will challenge opposition defences.

"We’ve got to be a bit smarter and technically we’ve got to be more accurate. But, inevitably in a transition stage, you’ve got to expect things like that to happen."

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