It all comes down to a question of trust for Martin Johnson's ill-disciplined England team. They give away stupid penalties because the players have no faith in each other in defence and fail to finish off attacking opportunities for the same reason.

That is the verdict of Johnson (below) and it's hard to argue with the big man after watching Wales profit from England's shortcomings at the Millennium Stadium, which allowed the hosts to emerge 23-15 winners and remain on course for back-to-back Grand Slams for the first time in a century.

It may take that long for England to stop collecting yellow cards as the sin-binning of Mike Tindall and Andy Goode took the roll of shame to eight in the last three Test matches and this inability to keep 15 men on the pitch is now undermining their Six Nations campaign.

Only Joe Worsley, the Wasps flanker, showed the right stuff in attack and defence, and at one stage on Saturday it appeared he was responsible for tackling the entire Welsh side.

The yellow cards are the most obvious example of the team's lack of trust in each other. The very best sides are based on a magnificent defence and this is achieved with punishing commitment and constant communication. Absolute confidence in the man standing next to you in the defensive line is the bed-rock of the system and, at present, England's players are chancing their arms and legs around the tackle situation in a desperate bid to buy time for their back- tracking team-mates.

Because England are a relatively new unit - there were changes in the back row and midfield going into this game - they are having to gel quickly in the unforgiving Test arena where errors are very quickly exposed.

Tindall and Goode - no spring chickens - made crucial errors of judgement in the face of unrelenting pressure when they should have backed their team-mates to be ready for the next Welsh assault. Instead, they incurred the referee's wrath and departed for 10 minutes. As Johnson said: "It came down to self-belief. We scored two tries but we gave away 18 points in penalties. We need to trust ourselves that we can play and we created more half breaks than Wales."

England's first try from Paul Sackey came from a kick ahead by Goode while the second was a wonderful solo effort by full-back Delon Armitage, but this gave the scoreline a misleading look.

In truth, Wales were so confident their defence could repel England's attacking play in the final minutes, they were happy to let the opposition keep the ball. Despite Armitage's try and the occasional broken field run by the improving Riki Flutey, England did not cut Wales apart in the way the home side put wing Leigh Halfpenny in for a try.

Two games into the Six Nations, England have emerged as a team that tackles really well, but still delivers poorly chased high kicks and cannot regularly bust a defence with ball in hand.

There was a better showing from prop Andrew Sheridan but flanker James Haskell and No8 Nick Easter could not punch serious holes in Welsh ranks and it will not get any easier against top-of-the-table Ireland in Dublin a week on Saturday.

Worsley has waited 69 England matches to be allowed to play the way he does every week for Wasps.

As Shaun Edwards, the Wales defence coach and Wasps head coach, knows, if you give Worsley a specific job he will produce a world-class performance.

Against Wales, he stood in the outside-half channel in defence and tackled anyone within reach in a red jersey. Worsley then bounced back to his feet and put the next man down.

The flanker said: "This was a step forward but we have a long way to go. I would love to put a run of big games together for England and if I stay injury free I hope to do that. In the past, my England career has been in fits and starts.

"Traditionally, when you play for England, you fit in and do what the previous forward did in the team. The club use me in a particular way and I really enjoyed making my mark for England off first phase, which is something I have done for Wasps. I have always been confident in reading the play and the reason I was used against Wales so much was to stop them at first phase."

If England want to make the most of Worsley's efforts and the attacking options offered by Flutey, Armitage and Sackey then Toby Flood must start at No10 with Goode thanked and returned to French rugby with Brive. Goode does not offer a fast-moving threat in attack and the difference in tempo when Flood took the field was obvious.

With Danny Cipriani racking up 21 points against Leicester yesterday, there is every reason to put the Wasps outside half on the replacements' bench. It would be a show of trust in one of the few English players capable of turning a game and Johnson needs to show that now.