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There was a lot made of England's defeat to Australia but I actually saw more things that I liked than disliked in the performance, and just speaking as an England fan, I am very excited about the future.

We have to remember that this is a new beginning and the team is playing a different more expansive style of rugby.

For me, the two games so far represent a promising start, certainly there are some disciplinary issues that need to be sorted out and we can not again give away cheap penalties against a world class kicker like Matt Giteau - but that will come with experience.

A point that a lot of people did not seem to make either was that many of the mistakes that were made against Australia were by some of the more senior players who have played plenty of times for England.

I think it was a good move by Martin Johnson making just the one change for the South Africa match. James Haskell will bring a slightly different dimension to proceedings but I still think that Tom Croft can produce a man-of-the-match performance off the bench.

It is also nice to see Jordan Crane on the bench; he has the potential to become a very good player for England.

He came from Leeds to Leicester as a bit of a raw talent but after gaining experience in the Guinness Premiershi, he has become a more rounded player and deserves his chance.

I'm definitely against making wholesale changes though as that has been something that has got England into trouble in the past few years.

Over a 100 players have played for England in the last five years and that means the team has never had time to grow.

Coaching changes have certainly not helped and injuries will always mean that changes have to be made; but there has been too much pressure put on coaches to chop and change

People have to realise that your best 15 does not just change because of one disappointing result.

Teams need time to gel; gone are the days when you can just click at international level.

In the professional era everything is much more planned out and organised, that is why the Barbarians will never beat an established international side anymore, because you can't just turn it on and expect to win.

South Africa come to Twickenham this weekend and you have to make them favourites for the match.

They are the world champions and have brought over a full squad of players for this series of autumn internationals.

Okay, so they have picked up a few injuries in recent games and might be a little banged up but it will certainly be an immensely tough game.

However, I think England will give them a really good game and if we can minimise our mistake, especially in the contact area, then I think we could find ourselves in a position to win the match.

Either way, so far I think I think it has been a good start to the Johnno era and there will be better days to come.

It is a young team, and they might have to suffer some more losses before the wins start coming consistently, but for me, there has been a lot of positives to take from the opening two games and I personally feel it is an exciting time to be an England fan.

Neil Back / Eurosport