England hopes to improve

LENS – England coach Brian Ashton insisted the world champions’ lacklustre start to the defence of their title against the United States would be an irrelevance when they faced South Africa on Friday.

England were unconvincing during a 28-10 victory which suggested they still had much to do to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups and captain Phil Vickery admitted they had to play “much better” against the Boks. Failings familiar during their slump since lifting the Webb Ellis trophy in 2003 were evident again with a lack of precision and creativity among them.In Paris, they will face a South Africa side who’ve won their last three Tests against England in a match likely to decide who tops Pool A and plays the runners-up in Pool B, featuring Australia and Wales, in the quarter-finals.”I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of analysis on tonight’s game because next Friday’s game is going to be something totally different against a side that play in a completely different way,” said Ashton.”We’ve already done all our analysis on South Africa.It’s now a question of sitting down and really thinking through selection to get the right players on the field to play the way we want to.”He added: “I suspect mentally there’s a bit of work to do but playing against the green and gold of the Springboks sharpens the senses.”But England’s insistence on trying to forget poor performances suggests they may not be fully absorbing their impact and hence repeating the same mistakes.Before the fixture, Ashton said he wanted a win, a performance and no fresh injuries with star outside-half Jonny Wilkinson currently sidelined with a right ankle ligament sprain but now off crutches.Nampa-AFPFailings familiar during their slump since lifting the Webb Ellis trophy in 2003 were evident again with a lack of precision and creativity among them.In Paris, they will face a South Africa side who’ve won their last three Tests against England in a match likely to decide who tops Pool A and plays the runners-up in Pool B, featuring Australia and Wales, in the quarter-finals.”I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of analysis on tonight’s game because next Friday’s game is going to be something totally different against a side that play in a completely different way,” said Ashton.”We’ve already done all our analysis on South Africa.It’s now a question of sitting down and really thinking through selection to get the right players on the field to play the way we want to.”He added: “I suspect mentally there’s a bit of work to do but playing against the green and gold of the Springboks sharpens the senses.”But England’s insistence on trying to forget poor performances suggests they may not be fully absorbing their impact and hence repeating the same mistakes.Before the fixture, Ashton said he wanted a win, a performance and no fresh injuries with star outside-half Jonny Wilkinson currently sidelined with a right ankle ligament sprain but now off crutches.Nampa-AFP