Greenwood not resting on his laurels after Welsh triumph

WILL GREENWOOD downed a single glass of champagne to celebrate his sublime hat-trick after England’s thrilling Six Nations triumph over Wales and then spent the rest of the night worried sick he might not be selected for Saturday’s match against Italy.

Happily, the Harlequins centre runs out for his 19th cap at Twickenham driven on by the knowledge that missing out on rugby immortality could be the penalty for one bad game.

"After Wales I had a glass of bubbly that evening and then immediately started getting nervous about whether I’d get picked for the next game," says Greenwood.

"It’s a cracking England squad that I want to be part of. You don’t take anything for granted in this side.

"As Clive’s often said there’s no harm in changing a winning side as long as you keep winning.

"If he thinks it’s best for the team for someone else to step into the fray he will make that call and the players will back that call and congratulate the bloke who has taken your slot.

"You can’t stand still and enjoy the last victory. It’s done, it’s history."

Greenwood knows better than most not to take anything for granted in the fickle world of sport.

He almost died after a horrific collision on the last Lions tour of South Africa and spent the best part of a season out of the game with a pelvic injury in his last full year at Leicester.

It saw him miss the whole of the last Six Nations, the biggest blow of all being missing the trip to Rome.

Greenwood lived within a drop goal of the famous Colosseum for the first six years of his life and in Rome’s Olympic Stadium there hangs a picture of his father Richard, the former England captain and coach, who played for the city’s rugby clubs Roma and Lazio in the 70s.

"I used to run up and down the Roma touchline as a child, kicking a ball while my dad was playing," recalls Greenwood, who boasts an impressive strike rate of 11 tries in 18 internationals."That’s where it all started for me.

"My mum, dad and sister all still speak fluent Italian and I can still understand some of it.

"My great friend Franco is president of Roma rugby club and I’ve been over to see them train a couple of times. I’ve also got a lot of friends at Lazio.

"We have many Italian friends who we used to live with coming over to watch the match. There’s so much enthusiasm out there. They just need the number of players to generate the depth."

Regardless of enthusiasm, however, the Italians could be facing a cricket score if England hit the heights they scaled so imperiously in the Millennium Stadium.

For which Greenwood singled out his centre partner Mike Catt, who wins his 50th cap on Saturday, for special praise.

"Catty’s got 50 caps and he’s been in and out of the side for years," says Greenwood. ‘‘But he comes back even better each time. If I could take a leaf out of his book then I’d be a happy man.

"He’s a top player and I’ll be cheering him onto the pitch when he’s leading the side out. He’s a footballer. In the new era of bish, bash, bosh, he’s still looking for space. He’s a thinking man’s player and kicks with both feet and passes off both hands."

And in common with the rest of Woodward’s remarkable squad he also subscribes to the rugby philosophy once passed on to Greenwood by his father.

"Before I had my first run-out for the Lions against Eastern Province in 1997 my Dad gave me some advice," says Greenwood."He said to me with typical northern bluntness: ‘Never take a backward step.’ I’ve followed it ever since."