Haskell hails Easter and Moody
February 07 2010
James Haskell deflected the glory after scoring the first two tries of his England career and landing the man-of-the-match award for an all-action performance against Wales at Twickenham.
Instead, the England flanker insisted all the accolades should go to back-row partners Nick Easter and Lewis Moody.
England have struggled to produce a reliable back-row trio since Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Neil Back dominated world rugby.
But Haskell is convinced the current threesome have the physical attributes to give Martin Johnson's side the momentum they need with the World Cup just 18 months away.
"I was very pleased I got man of the match but I personally thought Nick Easter - or 'The Dominator' as he likes to be known - deserved it,"said Haskell.
"And Moody again showed his quality. You know from those two guys that you are going to get a very physical, determined edge and I just slot in behind them.
"I was lucky to be on the end of a couple of tries but Nick was outstanding and Lewis was too. I'd hate to play against Lewis because he is just so physical, so destructive and puts his body on the line like no other player I know."
All three helped England get the better of the Wales pack, although the 30-17 Six Nations victory included a Welsh fightback and an England second-half slump which also demonstrated the flaws in Johnson's side.
The sin-binning of Alun Wyn Jones for a deliberate trip was the key moment, considering England scored 17 points when Wales were down to 14 men.
But while England had full-back Delon Armitage to thank for the interception which led to Haskell's second try, which alleviated an anxious situation with their lead pegged back to three points, the way Johnson's side refused to fold was encouraging.
"There's always a sense of desperation when you are back under the posts with a three-point gap. But it's the team that keeps the cool head and controls the ball that is going to win," said Haskell.
"If we hadn't gone for that interception where would we have been? It's having the confidence as a team to try those things and it came off.
"In games in the past we might have lost it but the team is so determined to put things right. We were never going to lose that match because we kept coming and coming. Whatever they threw at us we would have died rather than give in to it.
"The players and the management have worked very hard to create a winning atmosphere. We made some bad decisions at times but we stuck together."
Haskell puts his own fine form down to his move to Stade Français where he believes he has matured as a player.
"When I went there I wanted to come back and be a better player for England. I feel justified in what I've done. I've learned my role in the team," he said.
"It's the maturity I took from having to move there on my own. I got written off in every quarter. People thought I was throwing my England chances away.
"All I've done is work hard. It's a quieter life over there. I wanted to change my lifestyle and the way I approached the game. I found a new impetus. I was thrown in the deep end. Now I wake up, train, go home, relax, explore Paris and that's all there is."
Haskell's thoughts were supported by another Gallic exile in Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson, who added 15 points from his flawless boot.
The fly-half otherwise had a quiet game but said: "Not succumbing to the swing in the second half was a big step forward for us. We need to maintain that. A lot of effort went in. There were times when we could have let it slip but we worked very hard.
"Had heads gone down and thoughts crept in of 'What's going on, can we not finish a game?', Wales would have pushed through because they are a quality side. It was a big step for us."