England boss Steve Borthwick has told his players they must "accelerate" their progress after a 20-10 victory over Wales in Cardiff.
In Borthwick's third game as head coach, his team followed up victory over Italy last time out by getting the better of a Wales side who endured a disrupted build-up to their week three Six Nations challenge.
A contract dispute with the Welsh Rugby Union meant there was doubt until midweek that Saturday's game would even go ahead, amid talk of possible strike action.
Borthwick was hugely impressed by how Wales contributed so much, but it was his England who triumphed thanks to tries from Anthony Watson, Kyle Sinckler and Ollie Lawrence.
Captain Owen Farrell struggled with his kicking again, but England did enough.
They have won eight of their last 10 meetings with Wales in the Six Nations, but this result ended a run of two consecutive losses on the road against the Welsh.
England's last six victories over Wales had come by margins of six points or fewer, so by those standards this was a relative drubbing. In reality, it was nip and tuck until the final minutes.
Borthwick told BBC One he was "really proud of the team and what they did".
"That was a tough Test match. There wasn't much in it really," he said. "I think you've got to give those Welsh players such enormous credit and incredible respect.
"We've got quite a number of young men in there. There were a number of guys who played well. Now we've got to push on. There were bits in that performance that we can really push on with in this rebuilding.
"We need to accelerate. We've got two big games to finish the championship. For now, we've got to make sure we enjoy that win."
England have France at home on March 11, followed by Ireland away seven days later, taking on the teams ranked second and first in the world rankings.
It will be a lot clearer after those games where England stand, as they continue to build towards the Rugby World Cup under their new coach, who replaced the sacked Eddie Jones in December.
Farrell described England's showing as "a step forward", accepting his repeatedly wayward kicking was to blame for the visitors not pulling away.
"But it was a good test for us," he added. "We stuck in there, and we fought to the end and took control of the last 20 minutes I thought.
"There's bits starting to show, but we're laying some foundations at the minute and we want to keep building on it all."
Lawrence's try in the 75th minute put the game out of Wales' reach, with it having been on a knife edge to that point.
It meant England scored three tries away to Wales in Cardiff for just the second time in 12 Six Nations matches and for the first time since 2001.
Wales coach Warren Gatland saw good reason to be positive about his team's performance, even though they suffered a third successive loss in the championship.
Gatland said: "I can't be critical of the effort. We spoke in the changing room about being tough on ourselves, about some of the errors we made, things we can fix up and be better at.
"If we look at the mistakes we made that shifted the momentum back to England, they were at pretty critical moments.
"The message at half-time was to just stay in this arm wrestle and we'll get opportunities. The unfortunate thing is we turned the ball back over on too many occasions, dropped a couple of high balls and that was pretty frustrating, and a couple of penalties as well.
"Still for us there's work to do, but I thought there was improvement in some areas."
Southgate: Man United speculation 'a complete irrelevance'
Gareth Southgate says speculation linking him with the Manchester United job is "a complete irrelevance" as his entire focus is on England's Euro 2024 campaign.
The England manager has been tipped as a contender to succeed Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford should United part ways with the Dutchman at the end of the season.
Southgate is due to be out of contract later this year, with suggestions that the upcoming European Championship finals will be his last tournament as Three Lions chief.
However, amid the talk over where he could end up later this year, the 53-year-old is not looking beyond the Euros.
"I've got one thing to focus on, and that's having as successful a tournament with England as possible," he told ITV News.
"Everything else outside of that is a complete irrelevance to me."
Asked specifically about the United links in a separate interview with BBC Sport, Southgate said: "There will always be speculation about managers.
"If you lose a couple of games, you're in trouble - you win a couple of games and it is a different agenda.
"But for me, [Euro 2024] is a brilliant opportunity. We're looking forward to the tournament. My focus is on how do we go a step further than we went in the last Euros."
Southgate has been England boss since 2016 and previously hinted he contemplated stepping down after the World Cup quarter-final loss to France in December 2022.
Despite the fact his deal expires in the next six months, Southgate insists that is not a concern ahead of the Euros in Germany.
"It's not an issue and never has been," Southgate said. "I have to deliver a successful tournament for England and there's enough work involved in that.
"I think everybody would expect that's where my focus should be."
All Blacks captain Cane to retire from international rugby
New Zealand captain Sam Cane has announced he will retire from international rugby at the end of 2024, having agreed a three-year contract with Japan Rugby League One team Tokyo Sungoliath.
Cane made his All Blacks debut in 2012 and has represented his country 95 times, including through the team's triumphant run at the 2015 World Cup.
The flanker succeeded Kieran Read as captain in 2020, though his most recent international outing ended with him suffering the ignominy of becoming the first man to be sent off in a Rugby World Cup final, as New Zealand were beaten by South Africa last year.
Cane will be eligible to represent the All Blacks through the second half of 2024 after returning from an initial spell in Japan but will then head there permanently after New Zealand Rugby agreed to release him from his contract.
"A good opportunity came my way with Sungoliath willing to offer me a three-year contract," Cane said. "I had to weigh up everything and, in the end, with a young family it seemed like the best decision to help set us up for our future.
"I had my time as captain and it was a huge honour and privilege. If I'm fortunate enough to be selected for the All Blacks this year then I'll still be myself.
"I love that team, and if part of my role is contributing leadership-wise, I'll be happy to support the new captain as best I can to help with a speedy transition."
Broad fears for inexperienced England bowling attack after Anderson retirement
Stuart Broad fears an inexperienced England bowling attack could be exposed to problems after James Anderson announced his Test retirement decision on Saturday.
England's all-time leading wicket-taker Anderson will end his remarkable red-ball career after the first Test against West Indies on July 10.
Anderson has taken 700 wickets in 187 Tests, the most by any pace bowler in history, but the 41-year-old will play for a final time after Brendon McCullum signalled a change of plans for the future.
Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson are all potential replacements, though Broad remains concerned for Ben Stokes' bowling options going forward.
"England could easily go into a Test match this summer with a very, very inexperienced bowling group," Broad told Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
"If you don't play a [Chris] Woakes, Mark Wood has a rest and there's no Jimmy Anderson, you could have three seamers and a spinner out there potentially with 20 caps between them.
"That's quite scary as a Test captain I would have thought. We don't know how much [Ben] Stokesy's going to bowl – we hope he does.
"But that could leave you a bit exposed. There's only one way to find out with bowlers, and that's to give them a go."
Anderson's opening-bowler partner Broad retired after last year's Ashes, having finished his illustrious career with 604 Test wickets.
Having neither of the pair available to lead the line with the red ball in future may pose problems and Broad reiterated his concern over the gaping gap Anderson's retirement will leave.
"There's going to certainly be a huge hole left by Jimmy Anderson that someone is going to have to step into," he added.
"And not just by swinging the new ball. But by communicating, by keeping calm if the boundaries are leaking, by tactically being aware of what field works at certain grounds, pitches and times of Test matches.
"Ultimately, you don't learn that unless you're thrown in."
Broad, however, remains hopeful that Stokes and McCullum will find the right combinations to take England into a new era of Test cricket.
"I think exposure for some bowlers now is really important, because there's talent out there," Broad continued.
"There's bowlers out there that need a bit of exposure to see what it's about in Test match cricket.
"They may need time to adjust their training plan and how they operate before a tour in two years' time."
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