0
We will not surrender: England
Duncan Johnstone
Monday, July 30, 2007
England have assured their opponents they won't be surrendering the World Cup without a fight. In fact they are in a typically confident mood with Josh Lewsey declaring the men in white have the calibre of players to defend the golden trophy in France.Yes Winston...
But he admits they have to adopt a hard-nosed approach in the countdown to the tournament and believes the way forward has already been shown by English clubs like Leicester and Wasps.
"We have the calibre of player to win the World Cup," he told The Daily Mail.
"And I can guarantee that England won't lose in the competition through lack of fitness or effort.
"But if we're going to be successful we need to embrace what our great club teams like Wasps and Leicester and others do, and we need to develop a settled and structured team.
"If you could take the best from every club in England you would have a pretty formidable format.
"It's about allowing the guys to play as well as they do week in week out for the clubs in an international shirt."
They are brave words from England who have six weeks to get their ac t together after a dismal time since Sir Clive Woodward led them to glory in Australia four long years ago.
Woodward's successor Andy Robinson has been dumped since then and new coach Brian Ashton has hardly set the world on fire with his attempts to revive the struggling English game.
England open their defence against the United States but their big pool match at the tournament comes against South Africa.
England have a warmup game against neighbours Wales at Twickenham this weekend.
www.rugbyheaven.co.nz
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Burgs
