Ashton looks for answers

By Mitch Phillips

LONDON (Reuters) - The news did not get any better for England coach Brian Ashton on Sunday as he sifted through the wreckage of Saturday's 26-19 Six Nations defeat by Wales at Twickenham.

Four players are definitely out of next week's trip to Rome to face Italy and although the injury situation will clarify some of his thinking, other aspects of Saturday's second-half collapse will need a deeper analysis.

Centre Mike Tindall, who missed the World Cup with a broken leg, is unlikely to play any further part in the tournament after sustaining a bruised liver and being kept in hospital for observation.

Wing David Strettle, who showed a glimpse of his talent with an early scything run against Wales, is out with further damage to the broken bone in his foot that ruled him out of the World Cup, while flankers Lewis Moody (Achilles) and Tom Rees (knee ligaments) will also miss the Italy match.

Hooker Mark Regan also aggravated a neck injury and was replaced by Lee Mears.

By the time Ashton got the medical bulletin on Sunday he was already up to his neck in video analysis of how his team threw away a 19-6 lead with 21 minutes remaining.

The coach said he thought England had played some of the best attacking rugby for several years in the first half and he was disappointed that they led only 16-6 and scored only one try, by centre Toby Flood.

But he was powerless to explain the second half implosion that allowed Wales to score 20 unanswered points in a 12-minute spell without "having to work desperately hard".