Jamie Roberts admits Wales had something to prove: “Too right we came in for a lot of stick last week, because it wasn't good enough. We had to put that right and we showed that from the off.”

Jacques Brunel was philosophical in defeat in Edinburgh: “I think that’s the price we pay to keep on growing,” said Italy’s rueful coach Jacques Brunel. “Today we certainly paid a high price.”

Scott Johnson honest assessment of his scrum-half: “Greig Laidlaw is a wonderful lad and a wonderful technician too. Not the most gifted athlete as he knows and would admit but he is so much quicker than others because his mind works in a different place.

Philippe Saint-Andre call for a reaction from his French side: “There should be no excuses. We are in a magical competition. It is what you dream about being involved in as a player, and it is why I wanted to play rugby.”

Declan Kidney takes a pragmatic approach to the rest of the tournament: “The Grand Slam is a wonderful thing to win, but first and foremost you play for the championship and we’re still well in for that.”

Scotland lock Jim Hamilton likes to keep it simple: "We need to look at what we are. We're not England. We're not New Zealand. We're Scotland and we've got to look at what we can do to win games. The whole focus was stripped back [to the basics] and that has been great for me.”

Chris Robshaw reveals how England dealt with the Aviva Stadium cauldron: “We wanted to put down a marker and our message to the team before kick-off was: 'no backward step’ and I think we did that.”