Two tries from Ben Cohen finally anchored the shakiest of victories, with fly-half Olly Barkley one of Englands few successes as he scored 16 points on his first start for his country.

They were under the cosh in a big way, behind on the scoreboard but they came back and won it and that's what you expect from the world champions, said Hansen.

It's a difficult time for them. Martin Johnson's not in it for a start but they got that monkey off their back.

Hansen also praised Bath fly-half Barkley.

Jonny Wilkinson wasn't there either but the young fellow played well and was very composed to kick the goal which got them back in front, said Hansen, who took heart from the Welsh display.

He is going home to join the New Zealand set up at the end of the RBS 6 Nations Championship but believes he is leaving a Welsh side ready to move forward.

Right from the World Cup we have been making progress and we believe we are capable of continuing to do that, he said.

The problem when we compete against the really big sides is professionalism. They have been really professional the six or seven years and we are in the first cycle of our development.

Over the next 18 months to two years you will see a lot of changes in this playing group with the players who are just starting out.

In the end the thing that got us was that we just ran out of a little bit of steam but that wasn't the fault of the players.

Two years ago we had a record defeat here and today it could have gone either way.

There are still improvements to be made and when that's done we will start turning some of these narrow defeats into victories.