Stuart Lancaster is hopeful that a successful stint as interim England coach will lead to his appointment on a permanent basis.
Lancaster was appointed initially to lead England through the RBS 6 Nations - which they won last year under the now departed Martin Johnson - and has started the campaign with back-to-back victories.
The Red Rose opened the tournament with a hard-fought victory at Murrayfield against Scotland, who arguably threw away the chance of victory, before surviving another nervy encounter with a narrow 19-15 win over Italy in Rome.
England have struggled in both countries of late and Lancaster admitted his relief after the result against the Azzurri. However, he was also delighted with the way his players kept their heads.
The England boss has made no secret of his desire to become the full-time successor to Johnson - he applied for the role before the 6 Nations campaign kicked off - and is looking to keep the momentum going to boost his chances.
"I've always worked on the mindset that if you work hard enough and long enough then you get your rewards," Lancaster told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek.
"All I can do is focus on doing the job to the best of my ability and trying to get a new England team working hard for each other and [getting] the country behind them so they can feel proud of the team.
"We've come some way to achieving that with two wins."
England face a tough encounter next time out but will have home advantage for the first time when they take on Wales in two weeks' time, with Courtney Lawes, Manu Tuilagi and Toby Flood back in contention after recovering from injury.