Martin Johnson has issued a warning to his England players that their 30-17 victory over Wales on the weekend will be wasted unless they back it up with another big victory against Italy in Rome on Sunday.
England went into the match aiming to end a run of three straight Six Nations defeats against Wales and showed signs of improvement from their disappointing November international campaign.
Shortly after half time England went ahead to lead 20-3 but went off the boil and allowed Wales to score two tries and come within three points of England.
Delon Armitage however snatched an interception and Mathew Tait set up James Haskell's second try which put England safe.
"It is great they have got the result we have worked so hard for - but if we want to make it into a great win we have to perform next week in Rome." said England Boss Johnson.
"I said in the changing room: 'You have to enjoy this, enjoy playing Test rugby." he added.
"That is what it is there for'. But we will be back in Monday and we start work again."
Despite criticism from may sides Johnson has always said that England were moving in the right direction and the victory over Wales showed some merit in his claims.
"We have been in games when it hasn't gone our way and the talk of small margins sounds very hollow when you lose," Johnson told PA Sport.
"When you have been 17 points up and it is down to three, teams get tense."
"You can feel the crowd get tense. It was a nervous situation, we had to find the next score and I thought we took it really well.
"You wouldn't say it at the time but it was probably a good thing we went through that (Wales comeback) because we had to have the wherewithal and the belief to finish the game off.
"Composure is not something you can give players in a box. Going through the experience of being points up early - you could say too early - is something you have to deal with.
"Ultimately we got it done. It was closer than we would have liked but it is part of the process for these guys of understanding how to play."
