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It must be a sweet moment in any athlete's life when they manage to make quick-to-criticise press hounds eat their words, as Steve Borthwick did during England's storming victory over France.

Borthwick's place in the team had been under such intense scrutiny that had England not salvaged their Six Nations campaign with a five-try demolition of Les Bleus, there was a strong likelihood he would have been relieved of the captaincy at the championship's end.

One of the prerequisites of being captain is that your name should be one of the first on the team sheet. That may still not be the case with Borthwick, but he at last produced a performance to justify his selection and led with an authority that seemed lacking earlier in the tournament.

Borthwick is one of rugby's good guys and it is not in his make-up to gloat, but how he and his team-mates must have enjoyed the dressing room after their impressive performance proved the doubters - and there were many of them, OT included - so emphatically wrong.

It must also have been a sweet afternoon for England manager Martin Johnson, whose continued selection and support of Borthwick had led to accusations of misguided loyalty.

Of course one decent performance and one decent win do not mean all is now rosy in the Borthwick garden. It will not have gone unnoticed by the selectors that his fellow-lock Simon Shaw also had a decent afternoon in the Twickenham sunshine - despite conceding penalties early in the game - while Nick Kennedy looked in excellent nick when he came on for the final quarter.

England - and Borthwick - must now back up what was their finest performance under Johnson when Scotland come calling at Twickenham on Saturday. Swallows and summers will no doubt be part of their mantra this week.

Anything less than another win and another impressive showing from Borthwick, and Johnson may still be forced to look at his captaincy options for the summer Tests with Argentina.

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Warren Gatland's decision to name a 'second-string' side for the trip to Rome could well come back to haunt the normally-canny New Zealander.

Wales struggled to put a belligerent Italy side away and it took a late try from replacement Tom Shanklin to keep their title chances alive for the visit of Grand Slam hopefuls Ireland to the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

A victory margin of 13 points is now needed by Wales in Cardiff, a feat they have not achieved over Ireland for more than 25 years.

Gatland has mostly been spot on with decisions since taking charge of Wales, but the faith he showed in his squad's depth was misjudged. Wales needed points on the board and a loss to Ireland could now see them finish third in table, assuming England beat Scotland at Twickenham.

Gatland has been accused of disrespecting the championship and disrespecting Italy by not naming his strongest XV. OT suspects this was not the case, that is was more down to the fact Wales did not play very well on the day.

One only has to look at the backline - Mike Phillips, James Hook, Gavin Henson, Jamie Roberts, Shane Williams, Mark Jones, Lee Byrne - to see that it was far from second string.

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Despite England going exceptionally well at the weekend, OT is still not convinced by Toby Flood. Had the Leicester fly-half not been forced off injured at half-time then maybe the additional 40 minutes would have given him the chance to make the number 10 jersey his own.

But, as it stands, fly-half is still a problem area for England. Johnson of course has options: Andy Goode, Danny Cipriani, Shane Geraghty when fit, and soon perhaps Jonny Wilkinson who, if reports are to be believed, is on the verge of another injury comeback with Newcastle.

But one player who has been outstanding for the past few months yet rarely gets a mention in England despatches is Flood's former Newcastle team-mate Tom May.

Flood's summer departure to Welford Road and the subsequent injury to Wilkinson saw the stand-off duties handed to May, normally a wing or centre.

But the 30-year-old has taken to the role like a duck to water and played a key part in the six-game winning run that has seen the Falcons turn their season around.

It remains to be seen how depleted the Lions tour will leave England this summer, but Johnson could do worse than look at the in-form May if he is short of personnel for the Argentina games.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport