England will improve says relieved boss Johnson

England manager Martin Johnson believes his side have plenty of room for improvement after they ended their eight-year Cardiff losing streak against Wales late Friday.

The Six Nations favourites withstood a ferocious late rally from Wales – who clawed their way back from 23-9 to 23-19 in a tense rear-guard action – to close out for a vital opening 26-19 triumph.

Victory was particularly sweet for Johnson, who last year saw England squander a winning position against Ireland with minutes to play and also suffered an agonising two-point loss to France in their final game.

“We talked about going into the last 15 minutes and having to put it away and we did that,” Johnson said.

“Wales will look at it and say they had chances and they did. But that’s the game and ultimately you’ve got to finish it off. I thought it was good for us when they came back with their try.”

England’s points had come through a try in each half from wing Chris Ashton, with man-of-the-match Toby Flood contributing 13 points with the boot.

World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson added a late penalty to settle English nerves after a converted Morgan Stoddart try and a James Hook penalty had brought the Welsh to within four points of England with 10 minutes left.

Johnson was also happy with signs that England are gradually developing a clinical streak. That was evident when they absorbed early Welsh pressure before forging into a 10-0 on their first visits to the opponents’ 22.

Nevertheless Johnson was dismayed by mistakes which allowed Wales to gain a foothold in the match just when it looked as if England were in command.

“We talked about putting tries away when we got down there and we did that early on, which was great but then one of our best attacks in the first half almost ended with them scoring in the left-hand corner,” he said.

He shrugged off suggestions that the win in Cardiff represented a defining match for his team, who now have three home games against Italy, Scotland and France, before a potentially climactic duel with Ireland in March.

“They’re all defining games until the next defining game aren’t they?” he said.

“But if we play badly next week (against Italy) and get beaten, what will that feel like? We’ll be on the cusp of something else then.”

Italy denied

A Ronan O’Gara drop goal two minutes from time denied Italy a first ever Six Nations victory over Ireland as the 2009 Grand Slam winners sneaked away with a 13-11 victory at the Stadio Flaminio yesterday.

Italy looked to have snatched a famous victory five minutes from time as Luke McLean touched over to give the hosts a one-point lead with Ireland down to 14 men.

However, Ireland responded immediately, with substitute O’Gara kicking a late drop which broke Italian hearts and ended any premature celebrations.

Results: Wales vs England 19-26; Italy vs Ireland 11-13; France vs Scotland 34-21.