Brown: Brilliant, but we can do better

 

The Azzurri now head to Twickenham this weekend and though they arrive fresh from a 3-26 loss to Ireland, Brown suggested they would use last season’s 11-52 defeat at the hands of England as motivation to cause an upset.

 

“If we keep playing well, we can achieve great things. But we’ve said that over the past couple of years in the Six Nations and it’s not gone all our own way," Brown said.

 

“It’s about keeping our heads down, keeping composure and working hard like we have been doing. Next week is a tough game against Italy – a couple of years ago they came to our place and pushed us really close.

 

“They’ll be hurting from what we did to them last year and if we get above our station, they could turn us over.”

 

Reflecting back at the Welsh match, Brown was particularity proud of how his team managed to keep their head after going down 10-0 early on in the match.

 

Stuart Lancaster’s charges were powerless to prevent the hosts storming into a the lead in the Six Nations opener, scrumhalf Rhys Webb scampering over to add to Leigh Halfpenny’s early penalty.

 

Such a setback could have easily been debilitating – especially given memories of a 30-3 loss at the same venue in 2013 – but England held firm, hauling their way back into proceedings on the back of immense dynamism.

 

Brown, who again epitomised his side’s energy, set up a try for Anthony Watson with a deft grubber and was understandably elated at the final whistle.

 

“To get a win in a place like this doesn’t come around very often,” he said.

 

“At the end, Swing Low was drowning out their songs that have been talked about all week.

 

“We kept our composure, even though they got some early points – we always knew there would be periods of the game where they were on top. 

 

:For the majority of the game we put them under pressure and made them do things they didn’t want to do.

 

“We knew momentum shifts would go their way, but we had to just keep our heads – we obliterated their scrum for their try but [Taulupe] Faletau did really well [to link up with Webb].

 

“It was an amazing feeling, but this is only the first game of five. We need to kick on now, because there’s a lot more we can do.”

 

In a reflection of his own measured manner following a manic game, Brown explained that the England changing room had been 'calm' and without a trace of panic despite facing a 16-8 deficit at halftime.

 

While the forwards were exceptional, a significant part of the overall display was inspired by figures behind the scrum.

 

Praising midfield pairing Luther Burrell and Jonathan Joseph, who shone opposite Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies, Brown assessed both the collective performance and his individual contribution.

 

“As a backline, I thought we were brilliant today. We’ve taken a bit of stick as a unit, especially in November.

 

“It’s tough when units change because of injuries but the centres were great. Up against two Lions, they definitely had the better hand.

 

“Again I’ve probably been getting a bit of stick over the past couple of months, perhaps because I haven’t been the man making the big runs or scoring a lot of tries.

 

“Sometimes you have to be putting your teammates into space or doing other things. I’ve been working on other bits of my game and I hope that showed today. I was happy with my counter-attack when they gave me ball.

 

“Luckily I didn’t have to do too much defending because our guys were phenomenal there, but I think the most pleasing thing was my kicking game. I paid back Anthony Watson for sorting me out against Samoa – it was great.”