History lessons serve England well

Stuart Lancaster believes the experience of England's Six Nations near miss two years ago will be invaluable in this week's big match build-up.

Lancaster's team go into the final weekend in the hunt for their first championship since 2011, but matches in Rome, Edinburgh and Twickenham could all decide the destination of the title.

England host France with a points difference of plus-37, four better than Ireland, who must travel to winless Scotland.

Wales go to Italy with a points difference of plus-12.

Two years ago, England were denied the title - and a potential Grand Slam - with a 3-30 defeat at the hands of Wales in Cardiff, a sobering lesson that Lancaster insists has been learned

"The key thing this week will be getting the balance right and making sure that we don't overdo it or play the game too early in the week," said Lancaster.

"The experience of two years ago is important. When it came to the game itself, we were probably emotionally beyond the point where we needed to be.

"So we need to make sure we get the build-up right and play the game at the right time, which is five o'clock on Saturday."

Lancaster admits there is plenty of room for improvement after the 25-13 win over Scotland, with England's failure to take their chances the biggest cause for concern.

"If you look at the All Blacks, when they create a line break, they end up scoring," added Lancaster.

"We created 12 line breaks against Scotland but to only come away with three tries is frustrating and the players know that as well.

"However, it's a big positive because I haven't seen any team pull Scotland apart like that."

Ben Youngs also hopes England won't rue their failure to run up a more convincing score at Twickenham.

"It's disappointing because the Championship will come down to points difference. We don't want that to come back and bite us," he said.

"We're pleased with the breaks, but we weren't as clinical as we'd like to be."

* Meanwhile Lancaster named a squad 34 players at the Pennyhill Park training base.

England squad:

Forwards: Dave Attwood, Kieran Brookes, Calum Clark, Dan Cole, Alex Corbisiero, Nick Easter, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, George Kruis, Courtney Lawes, Joe Marler, Geoff Parling, Chris Robshaw (captain), Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola, Tom Wood , Tom Youngs.

Backs: Mike Brown, Sam Burgess, Luther Burrell, Danny Care, Danny Cipriani, Kyle Eastmond, George Ford, Alex Goode, Jonathan Joseph, Jonny May, Stephen Myler, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade,  Billy Twelvetrees, Anthony Watson, Richard Wigglesworth, Ben Youngs.

Source: @rbs_6_nations