England have a fantastic situation to move forward from but they must not over-react and axe every single experienced guy. While some have retired - like Lawrence Dallaglio, Jason Robinson, Mike Catt and Martin Corry - there are still players who still have a lot to offer. People like Simon Shaw, Phil Vickery, Mark Regan and Joe Worsley can all offer a huge amount of experience.

Brian Ashton has gone with the players he knows can perform and mixed them with a blend of youth. The main thing is that he has got to build a squad so he has got to give people playing time to see where they are going with their game.

After the World Cup in 2003 we only had two fly-half contenders in Jonny Wilkinson and Charlie Hodgson. Now you have still got Wilkinson and Hodgson but you have also got people like Ryan Lamb, Danny Cipriani, Shane Geraghty and Olly Barkley. All these players are coming through.

David Strettle will play a big part. Mathew Tait is coming on and will be more confident. I would like to see Simon Shaw take a bigger role, though he picked up an injury the other week with Wasps. He is pivotal to the England pack.

It is not about winning for England this year. We said after the World Cup in 2003 it would be a transitional period until they find their feet and that lasted for four years. It takes time to get used to new combinations and new people coming into the squad, perhaps new ideas coming from coaches as well. So I am not too worried whether they win or lose. I just want to see a world-class performance by world-class players.

Getting to the final of the World Cup was a fantastic achievement but the rugby they played was not exactly World Cup-winning. I would like to see England putting in performances that the fans, coaches and players alike know they can. If they put the performances in, the wins will come.

I am looking forward to it.  We can be excited about the team that takes the field in the RBS 6 Nations.