MIKE Brown insists England face a week of toil to prepare for Cardiff as they seek to improve on a unconvincing start to their RBS 6 Nations title defence against France.

The reigning champions triumphed 19-16 at Twickenham on Saturday to register a 15th successive Test victory, surpassing Sir Clive Woodward’s World Cup winners to set a new national record, but it was the worst performance of Eddie Jones’ reign.

Only the final-quarter arrival of reinforcements from a high-quality bench swept the game out of France’s reach with James Haskell, Jack Nowell and Ben Te’o heavily involved in the decisive 71st-minute try.

England were subdued in the first half, proving far too passive as Les Bleus justified talk of their resurgence after years of decline, but struck through powerhouse centre Te’o to keep their Grand Slam defence intact.

“It’s great to get the campaign off to a win but there’s lots to work on and lots to improve,” said Harlequins full-back Brown.

“It was a bit scrappy at times and we didn’t do what we set out to do, but a win is a win.

“If we were looking for excuses we might say it was our first game, but we’re not a team to do that.

“We didn’t put out on the pitch what we wanted. We’d trained really well over the last two weeks, but just didn’t do it.

“All credit to France because really disrupted our breakdown and then that has a knock on effect on everything else. We weren’t physical enough. There’s lots to work on.”

England’s next assignment is Saturday’s trip to Principality Stadium, the setting for a stirring 21-16 victory over Wales in 2015 that saw Brown argue with officials in the tunnel shortly before kick-off after the team were instructed to run on to the pitch ahead of schedule.

“It’s always a big game against Wales and it’s an unbelievable atmosphere there. It will be a great game,” Brown said.

“It’s a great stadium, it’s one of my favourite stadiums to play at, but in the Six Nations every away game is special.”

Jones insisted he was always confident England would prevail but the Australian knows his side must improve if they are to have any hope of retaining their title.

He said: “I did not prepare the team well enough. I got some things wrong and I have got a lot of homework to do. I will make sure the team plays much better against Wales.

“I thought we were awful, but I thought we were always going to win the game and that is what I like about these boys. They have got a never-say-die attitude.”

“The bench definitely made a difference,” Jones continued. “Haskell, for a guy that has played 35 minutes and 35 seconds this year was brilliant, and Ben Te’o did really well for us, too. I thought it was a great result from our 23.

England’s run of consecutive victories is a new national record, but Jones, ill only be happy if they are crowned tournament champions.

“Records don’t mean anything” Jones added. “You score 100 in a Test and next day get out for a duck.

“We want to be Six Nations champions and that starts now by beating Wales next week and that is the only thing that matters. If we win the Six Nations I will stand up here and do handstands. I will be that happy.”