Sport? No, this is a war, says hungry Vainikolo

"You have to play for 80 minutes, not 50," said Gloucester's fearsome wing. "When we have the opposition in trouble, we have to carry on storming over them them instead of taking our foot off the pedal. I don't know why that happened because I never felt like the game had been won.

"Give Wales credit for the awesome way they played but we should have put them to the sword. We had no excuse for not steaming them at the start of the second half."

Wales were still pinching themselves yesterday at avoiding anything worse than one eruption from 'The Volcano', an inside pass for Toby Flood to score England's solitary try long before they began to disintegrate.

Just like Jason Robinson on his Twickenham debut eight years earlier, Vainikolo spent almost the entire second half without the ball.

"I was disappointed I didn't get it in my hands more," he said. "I was as hungry as ever but that was another sign of how well Wales played. We just went too hard, too early and in the last 20 minutes they had more passion.

"I have every faith in our coaching staff and there will be no let-up in Rome on Sunday. You don't go there to play nicely with those people because they won't be playing nicely with you. Italy will be very tough but we have to find the level of aggression necessary to win the game. We'll be ready to go."

Vainikolo has never been in any doubt about rugby being more than a sport. "It's the same as war," he says. "Whenever I'm on the field, it's like a battle. You think only about how you can get on top of the man on the other side and beat him."

He never goes anywhere without the family Bible, presented to him by his Tongan parents on his 17th birthday when he first left home in Auckland for the Canberra Raiders rugby league club, his first stop on an exotic rugby journey.

The youngest of five brothers, he spent yesterday fielding messages from the other side of the world and acclimatising to his new identity as an England player.

The Vainikolo family watched the match live in Auckland at 5.30am on Sunday.

Barely 15 minutes later, their boy had come on as a substitute for the injured David Strettle. "My mum and my brothers and their wives all got up early to support the England team," he said. "I got some pretty cool texts from my brothers, like: 'You old Pommie' and then the one I like best: 'Come on, the Englishman'.

"That first match for England is something I will never forget. The atmosphere at Twickenham was awesome, better than I imagined. I was so nervous running up and down on the sideline that for a moment I felt like I might not be able to move. I was that nervous.

"It was bad vibes to lose a winger so early and really tough luck on David. I didn't know what to expect and I certainly wasn't expecting to get on so early. I was really hyped but at the same time concentrating on my job.

"I still don't know how we lost, not after dominating the game for as long as we did. It was strange because I'd never been in a game before where we lost four injured players."

The first South Sea Islander to play Test rugby for England, Vainikolo will give his cap to his mother, Melenaite.

His father, Solomone, passed away last month at the age of 68 and his oldest brother, Kava, who played representative rugby for Bay of Plenty, died from a heart attack before Christmas at 37.

A devout Christian, Vainikolo's wrist bands carry the initials WWJ — Walk With Jesus. His pre -match routine never changes. "I always read a passage from The Bible," he said. "I bless the jersey, bless myself, the rest of the team and the other team as well. Then I go out there and do the business.

"God gave me a talent to use but, at the same time, the opposition are the enemy. If I have done something wrong, God will forgive me but I have never set out to hurt anyone."

Wales wing Mark Jones can always claim to be the first union player to face Vainikolo in full cry. When he went back to retrieve a kick, Jones turned to find a super-heavyweight of almost 18st careering towards him. Despite ducking for cover, the Welshman still needed all his survival instincts to tell the tale without needing the refuge of the medical room.

"It was tough but I was chuffed that I managed to hold on for the boys," he said. "I knew something big was coming my way so I tried to go down. He must have caught me on the head somewhere and I lost my legs for about 10-15 minutes. I was struggling with my vision for a while with a blurry eye but I wouldn't have wanted to miss that match for the world."

Lesley Vainikolo was speaking at the launch of Powerade's new orange flavour. To find out how you compare against a professional rugby player go to www.poweradeforfree.com