Tom Palmer: 'Character and team spirit see us through'

08-Feb-2012 - Last updated on 12-Mar-2017 at 02:27 GMT

Related tags American football Iraq England

With so many new faces in the England squad for the 2012 Six Nations campaign ( making the average age of the players 25 ) plus a new coaching team in place led by Stuart Lancaster it was no surprise to us all that the approach to preparation for the first game at Murrayfield was different to previous years.

Sure enough, it was! The training camp was held in cold Leeds, not sunny Portugal as in the past, and the emphasis was on developing team spirit, strength of character in adversity and taking personal responsibility for your decisions and actions both on and off the field.

At the camp we were introduced to a host of characters who were all used to winning and dealing with adversity – from rugby league players like Kevin Sinfield & Jamie Peacock, footballer Gary Neville and soldier Simon Brown who was severely wounded in action in Iraq. Not surprisingly, it was Simon’s contribution that we found the most inspirational.

We all knew that we would have to show character and resolve if we were to achieve a victory at Murrayfield because no England side had done so since 2004 and the bookmakers had us down as second favourites in a two horse race!

The Scots threw everything at us from the first whistle but, unlike some of our games in the World Cup, the players kept their discipline and did not concede foolish penalties under pressure and I was also pleased with my own tackle count.

We gradually worked our way into the game but were unable to establish enough sustained attacking momentum or create try scoring opportunities to boss the game. When we did create pressure in the right areas of the field we forced an error to claim that try from the charged down kick near to their line.

Unfortunately we were never able to pull away and were forced to defend for long periods of the second half. This is where the team building of the previous week stood us in good stead. We kept tackling, retained our organisation and kept the penalty count to a minimum.

Everyone played their part and the new caps in the starting line up as well as those introduced from the bench will all be better players for the experience and don’t let us forget that we claimed an away victory!

We now look forward to the game in Rome which will require the same commitment if we are to get the result we want.