Defeats strengthen our resolve - Stevens

Matt Stevens is convinced England have learned a crucial lesson from their painful run of defeats and are now ready to embark on the road to recovery with victory over Italy.

England have lost all three of their RBS 6 Nations appointments so far - taking their record this season to two wins from six – and they sit alongside the Italians at the bottom of the championship table.

But Stevens, the 22-year-old Bath prop who will make only his second England start at Twickenham on Saturday, believes each setback simply made the squad stronger – to the point where they have developed the one quality which infuses every successful sporting team.

“The boys have started to strengthen their resolve to win. We are in a transition phase at the moment but hopefully just for a while,” Stevens said.

“We are building something here together and I think there are a lot of very talented players.

“It doesn’t matter we have lost the games by a couple of points – a couple of points or 50 points, we lost the game. We have to put that right.

“It’s not about always winning games when playing well, it’s about winning games when playing badly that counts.

“We want to play really well this week but we have to close out and win the games and that is what is important.”

It was just that quality which carried England to their World Cup success and was then lost as the leaders – Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Lawrence Dallaglio - retired one-by-one.

The new England, now captained by the impressive Martin Corry, have the chance to prove their mettle against Italy in what is now an unlikely wooden spoon decider. Two sides, both without a win but with vastly different expectations.

England have never failed to put at least 40 points past Italy in the Six Nations and the expectation from red rose supporters leaves them in something of a no-win situation.

“It plagues the back of your mind,” admitted Stevens.

“But you can’t let all these pressures affect you. Two weeks ago we were going up against Ireland and we had lost the first two games. It was unprecedented in England’s Six Nations campaigns.

“We had to take the attitude, ’What are we going to do about that?’

“This week we have to think about the technical aspects of how to beat Italy. You can’t think, ’What if we lose?’

“Italy have proved you must take them seriously. They have shown that to a lot of sides, they take the game to sides and it is a big test for us.

“It will be a big test for our pack. They have definitely proved to be a really good pack and it’s something we have noted and we will go into this game wary of that.”

That means another tough task for Stevens, whose elevation to the England side epitomises the changing of guard.

His first senior England start came in the celebration game against the New Zealand Barbarians just after the World Cup. He then won two caps off the bench on the summer tour.

Stevens finally made his full debut against Ireland in Dublin but he took very little pleasure from the experience despite Robinson hailing his “awesome” performance.

“Losing is devastating and you don’t think about anything else,” he added.

Stevens was thrust into the England side at tight-head after both Julian White and Phil Vickery were sidelined and the doubters predicted Irish veteran Reggie Corrigan would give him a rough ride at Lansdowne Road.

But he turned in an impressive display, both anchoring the scrum and in the loose where he was still making inroads into Irish territory late in the game.

“People say to you ’what did you think of your game last week?’. To be honest, even if I had had the best game of my life and we had lost it doesn’t mean anything,” he added.

“At this level you are playing rugby for your country and the most important thing for you is winning.

“The pressure is huge but it is warranted. You are representing millions of people who have put their trust in you because you play for England.”