Six Nations: England were better than us, but we’ll be stronger for experience of painful defeat - Jamie Robert

Column

(Getty Images)

A lot’s been said in the past week about the England game. From a personal perspective, there was a sense of devastation in our changing room at Twickenham in the immediate aftermath. It was effectively a Championship decider, such a big game, and we came up short.

It’s all well and good saying how close we came to winning and how it would have been one of the great international comebacks but the reality is that we left it too late and left ourselves with too much to do in the final 20 minutes.

Dissecting the game, there were a lot of home truths when we returned to camp on Tuesday and that’s just how it should be – we’ve always been a very open group.

And the fact of the matter is, that first half was a disappointing performance and we just didn’t have enough energy. That’s something we have to address before today’s game in Cardiff.

It’s not that straightforward to explain exactly what went wrong and I am not one for making too many excuses. The crux of the matter is that England played the better rugby than us.

They took our blitz away from us, they played some good attacking rugby and they starved us of possession. Added to that, our discipline was quite poor and, in truth, we gifted them 12 points.

But fair play to England, they deserve to be going into the final weekend with the Grand Slam still in sight. They’re the best team we’ve played in this Championship although I appreciate that’s a rather obvious point to make as they’re the only side to have beaten us!

People asked why we didn’t play the whole game like that final 20 minutes but we were able to play that way because there were a lot of tired England bodies on the field and that opened up the game. Had we attempted that from the outset, I don’t think we would have scored the tries we did later in the game.

But we have to put the England game to bed; our few days of mourning are over and, as I always say, you learn a lot more from the mistakes you make than the victories, and it’s abundantly clear we made mistakes as a team.

It’s never easy taking such results, with the enormity of what’s at stake and an expectant Welsh public, but this will make us stronger.

I’ve heard worse than what Marler said to Lee

I’m well aware of what’s been the biggest talking point of the game – Joe Marler’s comment to Samson Lee – and, as another player, I don’t really want to get too heavily drawn on that.

Hearings have been held and decisions have been taken and English and Welsh players alike have to adhere to that.

What I would say is that I’ve heard worse things said on the rugby field, a lot’s been made of it and we all need to move on. Take Samson: he’s just got his head down and got on with training. We all have to do the same.

A day at the races kept the spirit of togetherness going

On Wednesday, we had a day off and a few of the players and management went to Cheltenham for a day at the races. I was lucky enough to back a couple of winners and it was a great way to recharge the batteries.

Gelling as a group off the field is important and we’re always looking at different ways of enjoying each other’s company away from the rugby.

Even coming into the final game of the Championship, it’s not like we ever tire of each other’s company. The management are very good at getting people to go back and spend time with their families or catch up with friends, and then come back ready to switch into that intensity of training and match day again.

Wales’ future looks bright in hands of young Slam chasers

There could yet be a Wales Grand Slam to celebrate this week with the Under-20 boys going into their final match against Italy unbeaten. They’ve played brilliantly and it’s great to see such a young crop of talent proving to be the best in Europe right now.

We played against them in training the other day and it was a great experience. I’ve not had the chance to pore over their games too much but from that training session alone I expect a few of those guys mixing it in the senior squad very soon – maybe even come the next Six Nations Championship.

Italy will be pumped up, but we can leave them deflated

You always want to win your last match of the Six Nations and that’s no different with Italy coming to Cardiff today. They shipped quite a few scores against Ireland and it’s the last game in charge for their coach Jacques Brunel so they’ll be pumped up to make a point.

I’ve never lost to Italy but they’ve beaten Wales in the Six Nations before so we won’t be taking them lightly – although, as with any opponents coming to Wales, we’d always back ourselves to win.

I always enjoy playing against Sergio Parisse. The guy’s been Italy’s talisman for a good few years now and he’s a tremendous competitor. Also, I had the pleasure of getting to know him while I was playing in Paris. We might have been playing for rival sides in the city, with me at Racing and him at Stade Français, but we ended up at a couple of functions together and I’ve got to know him well.