Andy Robinson Playing Quotations

I have got total belief in this team. Sunday's game will tell us where we are. We want to win the championship, it was one of our aims for the season, and I have full confidence in the way the team is playing the game.

I always said I would consider bringing Matt back if I felt he was playing well for his club,

Jason is an outstanding member of the England team who has led by example for the three years he has been playing international rugby union,

I think that it's still progressing. I was pleased with the players in the autumn. In the three games we set a benchmark and it's important that we build on that. The importance is the whole team development. It's about playing with speed of ball and understanding. If we can get quick ball then the midfield combinations will have more time to work and expose the space that we're trying to attack. I was pretty pleased with the way the midfield went.

I've been targeting this game for Matt. It's a horses-for-courses selection. He's got great experience and an ability to control the forwards. Against France we've got to be right in their faces. They have a powerful pack that can be dominant if you let them play. If you let your concentration drop, or miss one-on-one tackles, they can carve you up. So we've got to be astute and squeeze the life from them. We've got to stop the band playing and get the crowd whistling.

We know that Italy is a good team and we respect it. It will be important to win because we are playing on the road. There were no away wins in the first round of the competition.

George has been playing consistently well for Leicester, and he was certainly pushing to be in the 22. It is unfortunate for him.

I congratulate Iain in returning to the starting line up this week. He is playing well for Tykes and put in an impressive performance for England A.