NEW coach Steve Hansen has defended his decision to put on all seven replacements against Italy on Saturday.

With continuity vital and an even bigger Wales win than 44-20 likely and desirable ahead of the England clash, the changes meant Wales did not score in the last thirty minutes. But Hansen said: "There was a big improvement again after our improvement against France and I'm very happy with that.

"We probably got a little bit shoddy in the last 15 to 20 minutes because we made so many changes which disrupted the pattern of the game.

"But there was a great opportunity to put all 22 on the paddock and I'm a firm believer that for us to grow as a team we need to do it on the paddock.

"With most teams I've coached we've used the reserves. It means we can play with an intensity which demands the other side do the same and then, if they don't choose to sub, we have an advantage.

"Because we had the scoreboard on our side we had the opportunity to experiment a little bit."

That included trying out Iestyn Harris at full back and he defended that move, saying: "With some fine tuning, I think Iestyn could probably play there." Of the game, he said: "I think we saw some improvement in most things we did. We're not where we want to be yet, but if we keep making improvements we can put ourselves in the race.

"We did that against Italy and got a result we can all be proud of and I think the people who watched will have been pleased with the style we played.

"Confidence is something that breeds from within the individual and spreads throughout the whole unit and when you score five tries it's very helpful."

But he admitted concern over the patchiness of Wales' performance. "We've got to sort it out full stop," he said. "We started against France with a real intensity for ten minutes. Today it was 15 to 20. We have to keep building on that intensity. It won't come overnight."

Graham Henry's appearance in the crowd on the video screen drew unexpected applause and Hansen commented: "It was great to see him here and I thought it was outstanding the way the crowd treated him.

"I picked him up at the airport along with my mother-in-law so we had a bit of a chat about things on the way back, but he didn't have any input."

Wales skipper Scott Quinnell said of Wales' display: "It's nice to get a win and it was nice to put some rugby together. We've worked and it's nice to see it coming to fruition. "We're looking forward to the England game. It's another huge challenge. We'll work on a few things and try to produce a few surprises."