Second place not good enough - Toby Flood

10:59am Tuesday 18th March 2008

ON the face of it, coming second in the table doesn't look too bad but we all feel frustrated that we were so inconsistent.

After all, France also won three games and we were only ahead on points difference.

You have to take your hat off to Wales. They got better throughout the tournament and challenged the opposition in attack and defence.

They have a good mix of young guys and experienced heads and Warren Gatland is getting the best out of them. To see Martyn Williams, who was persuaded to come out of international retirement, score the final try was poetic.

It was great to finish the tournament on a high with our best performance. You are only as good as your last game as the saying goes and we can look back on Saturday as something to kick on from.

We are going in the right direction.

We need to take those good things into the New Zealand tour. Everyone knows what is in store but we also know how we want to play so it'll be exciting.

I understand Brian was coming under pressure from some experts' last week but he didn't pass that on to the squad.

He was his usual self and we were all pleased to give him and the coaches something to smile about.

We played with a huge amount of pace and we were moving the ball around. It's very hard to defend against a team playing like that.

Even when we went 10-0 down we weren't concerned.

We continued to play with pace and balance and I think it's the first time in the tournament that we have done that for the full game.

Danny (Cipriani), pictured, did superbly well. He showed that he can handle the pressure at the highest level and you can't argue with seven kicks from seven.

Jamie (Noon) deserved his man of the match award. He is probably the best defensive No 13 in world rugby and there are not many people who get past him. When we are doing defence against attack in training at Newcastle I always like to be on the same side as him so I don't get smashed.

He can also create stuff and, given his dribbling skills on Saturday, I wouldn't be surprised if the Toon' come in for him! He also took his try very well.

Mind you, he owed us that after not giving me one on a plate earlier when there was me, and about 16 other people, outside him.

He also seems to play well when his family are watching - they were there when he scored a hat-trick against Scotland at Twickenham a few years ago.

Taity was happy with his try and is now calling himself The Finisher or The Punisher'. It's not easy coming on as a blood replacement because it's usually a quick call and you never know how long you are going to be on for.

I only lasted 50 or so minutes.

My right knee keeps on flaring up and I was going to come off at half-time but they gave me a bit longer.

I'll be seeing the Newcastle physio and doctor this week and decide on the best course of action.

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