LONDON: Chris Robshaw was confirmed as England captain for the remainder of the Six Nations by interim coach Stuart Lancaster on Wednesday.
The Harlequins flanker, who took over the captaincy at the start of the tournament following Lewis Moody's retirement after the World Cup, has so far led England to away wins over Scotland (13-6) and Italy (19-15) in his first two games in charge.
Robshaw, 25, had played just one Test for England before this Six Nations, against Argentina in Salta in June 2009.
His next match as England captain is against Wales, who also have a perfect played two, won two Six Nations record, at Twickenham on February 25.
"Chris has stepped into the role well and led a new team in two tough away fixtures," said Lancaster.
"He is one of many leaders we could have chosen against Scotland and Italy but he has shown on and off the field the qualities required to captain a side," added Lancaster, whose own position as the caretaker successor to Martin Johnson will be reviewed by the Rugby Football Union after the tournament.
"We feel it is right to make a call now that Chris will lead England for the rest of the RBS Six Nations," explained Lancaster, who had previously said he would look again at the captaincy after the opening two rounds.
Robshaw said: "Captaining the team against Scotland was the proudest day of my life and to get the chance again against Italy was fantastic.
"To do so at Twickenham would be something else and I'm thankful to the coaches for giving me that opportunity and to all the lads for helping me over the last few weeks," added Robshaw, who was England's most inexperienced captain since Nigel Melville in 1984 when he won his second cap against Scotland at Murrayfield.
"For now I'm just focusing on training hard and helping us get ready to play a strong Welsh team."
Meanwhile Lancaster said that, with no Six Nations fixtures this weekend, he'd released 16 players for club duty.
But only one of those -- Tom Palmer -- started in last weekend's win against Italy at Rome's Olympic Stadium.
Second row Palmer is set to play for Stade Francais in their French Top 14 clash against Toulon.
Among the other players allowed to return to their clubs are Manu Tuilagi, Toby Flood and Courtney Lawes, all coming back from injury.
Meanwhile Ben Morgan is available for Welsh side the Scarlets after making a big impact off the bench in Rome.
"It's important that we support the clubs and also that players get some game time so we can see where they are really up to in terms of fitness and form before we head into a Test week against an on-song Wales," said Lancaster.
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