Chris Robshaw has called on the Twickenham crowd to set the tone for next year’s Rugby World Cup by roaring their side on to victory over New Zealand this Saturday. As hosts of next year’s tournament, England are keen to maximise their home advantage and want to establish the stadium as a place visiting teams fear to tread.
England’s captain accepts there is increasing pressure on the players with the World Cup looming but believes the supporters can make their task easier, as they did when England beat the All Blacks in this same fixture two years ago. “The year we beat them I remember Swing Low being sung so loudly we couldn’t even hear the haka,” recalled Robshaw, who is set to lead out England for the 28th time this weekend.
“It was incredible. It got all the players going and got everyone ready. With the World Cup at Twickenham, I think it does make these matches more important. They all want to come here and play well. We want the opposite. We want it to be a fortress. We want the atmosphere to be similar to our last two home games, against Wales and Ireland, and the performance to be similar also. We’re at home and we want to show the crowd we’ve come a long way in the last year. From minute one I’m sure Twickenham will get right behind us.”
It is also Robshaw’s belief his team were unfortunate to lose all three Tests against the All Blacks in New Zealand in June. The touring side were hindered by availability issues and end-of-season fatigue and feel stronger this time.
“We felt we were unlucky down there in the summer not to quite get what we wanted. We felt we got quite close to them in some ways and we think we excelled in certain areas ... we’ve seen we can hurt them at certain stages.
“Unfortunately we were not able to produce an 80-minute performance. As Australia found out a couple of weeks ago, if you don’t play for the full 80, this side are capable of winning from anywhere. That’s a step we have to make. If we can do that, we are extremely confident in our abilities and in the players we have.”
Stuart Lancaster is set to confirm a starting XV containing only two backs who featured in England’s final Test in New Zealand.
Bath’s uncapped Semesa Rokoduguni is poised for his first start on the right wing, with Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond in the centres, and Robshaw is promising a full throttle effort from his team. “We were a side that was very defence orientated. We we were very proud of that defence and probably won a lot of games because of it. Our attack has now caught up with that.
“We can threaten with our attack and still have that dominant defence as well. Even though we haven’t played together as a unit we feel we’ve developed.”
Not giving New Zealand the chance to counterattack, however, will be equally crucial, according to Robshaw. “There is no magic formula,” he said. “In the pressure of the situation, it’s about who is able to take their chances and keep their composure. It’s about being clinical. In international rugby you know you’re going to get a couple of chances but, when everything is flying around, are we good enough to take our chances?
“As an England squad, that’s the next step we need to take if we really want to push ourselves up there. We need to be as clinical as these guys coming to town.”
New Zealand’s recent defeat against South Africa and narrow win over Australia have also encouraged England to believe they can kick off this month’s schedule successfully.
“Andy Farrell speaks well about it: New Zealand are the best attacking side but defensively there are opportunities out there,” said Robshaw, 28. “We have to identify them and see if we can find that space.
“You can’t stand off these guys for a second. It’s about us putting our game out there. There will be a lot of talk about next year and this is the last time we will play each other prior to that. There’s no hiding place. You’re not going into this game to come out second best, are you?”
England (v New Zealand, probable)
M Brown (Harlequins), S Rokoduguni (Bath), B Barritt (Saracens), K Eastmond (Bath), J May (Gloucester); O Farrell (Saracens), D Care (Harlequins): J Marler (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), D Wilson (Bath), D Attwood (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements R Webber (Bath), M Mullan (Wasps), K Brookes (Newcastle), G Kruis (Saracens), B Morgan (Gloucester), B Youngs (Leicester), G Ford (Bath), A Watson (Bath).
