From where did this victory come after the almost ruinous second-half performance in Rome a fortnight ago? The superior goalkicking of Jonny Wilkinson against France’s part-time kicker, Damien Traille, is an obvious contender. The savage scrummaging and remorseless rumbling of Andrew Sheridan would be favourite with the purists.

But I believe England’s secret ingredient was nothing so obvious, nothing so tangible. Instead, speed was the essence of this strong performance. In the second half against both Wales and Italy, England were only too content to allow the opposition to play the game at the pace that suited them. Against Wales it was altogether too quick for an England team that struggled against the instinctive attacking skills of a Welsh team who are left splendidly alone as the only potential Grand Slam winners in this season’s tournament.

In the second round of matches, it was the absolute opposite as Italy ground the game into a turgid scrap that enabled their inferior back-line and questionable defence to escape the exposure to which Wales subjected them in Cardiff yesterday.

The abiding memory of that most forgettable international revolved around the Harlequins axis of Nick Easter and Andy Gomarsall. In Easter’s defence he had not played for several weeks and the rust was all too evident. As for his scrum-half partner, Brian Ashton decided there was no defence and omitted him from not only the starting 15 but the entire 22.

At Twickenham and in Rome, the World Cup No 9 was all too often content to allow the ball to snuggle comfortably at the base of the breakdown while he waved his arms around in the manner of a demented traffic cop on the Arc de Triomphe. This made it all but impossible for England to attack on the front foot and the conservatism was compounded by a failure on the part of both him and Wilkinson to use turnover ball as a counter-attacking weapon.

Gomarsall was replaced by the 24-year-old Sale scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth, who has every right to remember his first start for England for the rest of his life. It ended with him sneaking over the French try-line as England squeezed the life out of France. It was not dissimilar to an American quarterback’s short-range scramble. Sheridan, Vickery and company drove France backwards and when the gap was forced, the scrum-half surged towards the glory.

It ended magnificently for Wigglesworth, yet it had not started on quite such an illustrious note. Almost the first time England attacked the French 22, he was snagged as the ball popped out on his side. Taken superficially, this is an indictment of both the scrum-half and the pack that is presumed to guarantee protection.

Ironically, one of England’s greatest problems for the past four years has been their obsession withsecuringthe ball, rather than winning quick ball by clearing out opponents. England have preferred to settle over the ball in order to make sure that a stray defender cannot find a way to steal possession or throttle the scrum-half. The net result of this conservative strategy had been the scenario as described in Rome, with the No 8 and scrum-half almost wallowing in their comfort zone.

Comfortable it may be for the forwards but it is nothing less than a death wish for any back-line intent on aggressive play. While opposition forwards may not get to the ball, the opposing backs are given all the time in the world to reorganise their defensive line across the field. That may be one of the reasons why England have seemed at times to shrink to little more that a team with just the one attacking trick, the cross-kick.

So, in a weird sort of way, the wipe-out of Wigglesworth was good news for England because it illustrated that against France they were determined to win quicker possession from the point of contact, enabling the backs to have at least a fighting chance of creating something worthwhile. The speed of possession is everything and rather than waiting until it was slowing down, England tried to keep it quick. The Sale scrum-half deserves commendation because throughout the game he needed to remain sharp-witted and quick of hand. He managed both and in the process speeded up England’s attack.

Outside him – kicking apart – it was an altogether more accomplished performance by Wilkinson. His kicking was not quite immaculate and he misses the odd tackle these days, but at last he used his experience in the Test arena to impose a structure on the game to the benefit of those around him. Too often this and last season he has played as if he is an ongoing experiment with his own self-improvement the sole objective. This single-minded focus is at the root of his legend but when he overdoes it, as he has been prone to with the soft-shoe shuffle that makes life impossible for those trying to time their runs outside him, it can destroy a back-line.

Last night he was far more understated. Had his name not been Wilkinson, he could have gone through the game with barely a mention and in this instance that is exactly what England needed.

Standing much flatter and sweeping the ball through his hands, his more aggressive alignment offered a few opportunities for his Newcastle colleagues Toby Flood and Jamie Noon to slip the first line of defence, enabling England’s big forwards to run on to the next phase of possession rather than backwards. When forwards batter their way towards the opposition try-line, we often describe the movement as “hard yards”, but the real hard yards for these heavy-weights is when they get up from a scrum and have to run backwards to retrieve the ball. There was nothing wonderful from Wilkinson but the sheer simplicity of his game played an important part in allowing England to accelerate their attack and if not penetrate France, at least keep the team moving in the right direction.

It is important for England to take this win as a new starting point, a foundation from which they can move away from the memory of those autumn Parisian nights. England have a habit of glorying in famous victories rather than being brutal with themselves. The last time England were consistently hard with themselves in victory was when Sir Clive Woodward was building a team towards the World Cup. Since then, England’s failure to look in the mirror has made it so difficult to escape from the World Cups and past memories.

Ashton needs to remind his team that this was a naive and experimental French team. It is a team which will improve – it cannot get much worse than it was last night to be truthful – and if England are to maintain their grip on France, they have to stride away from the Stade de France with improvement at the top of their agenda.

This was a good performance by England; coming after the near ruination of Rome it was bloody brave, but it was nowhere near great. The opposition was second-rate on the night and that is what England must remember when they prepare for Scotland. This is not a vintage Six Nations and for England the challenge is as much about the pursuit of excellence as beating the next opponent. If England maintain the improvement started last night, the victories will take care of themselves.

Stuart Barnes won 10 caps for England between 1984 and 1993