Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson admitted that he was braced for a punishing tour of South Africa as he joined a severely depleted England squad which flew out to Johannesburg.
The squad, which includes five World Cup winners, also contains seven uncapped players, including six forwards, as England prepare for ties with their World Cup opponents in Bloemfontein on May 26 and Pretoria a week later.
"We are going to be hauled out of our comfort zone, but we want to go to South Africa and attack the tour and be positive," Wilkinson said. "It is about sticking out our chests and being pro-active, rather than just hanging on in there."
PHOTO: AP
England last toured South Africa seven years ago, when they won in Bloemfontein -- Wilkinson scored all 27 points -- a week after losing narrowly at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria.
It proved a significant trip towards the shaping of England's 2003 World Cup squad, but no serious comparison can be made this time around.
Head coach Brian Ashton opted not to select players from Leicester, Wasps or Bath, who are all set to play European finals this weekend, while injuries have sidelined key personnel such as Mike Tindall, Mike Catt and Charlie Hodgson.
The combined effect places added expectancy on players like Wilkinson, whose own injury-plagued career means he has started just three England Tests since the 2003 World Cup final.
England have had a miserable away record with just a solitary victory on the road -- against Italy -- in 15 months.
The tour will evoke memories of 1998 when an under-strength England squad embarked on a seven-game southern hemisphere expedition in three countries and lost every match.
Ashton, one of Clive Woodward's coaching staff on that ill-conceived trip, said: "It is going to be an enormous challenge, as any two Test series is against South Africa whenever you go out there. But it is a great opportunity for one or two players to maybe stick their heads above the parapet."
"I will be looking for each player to play to his ability and expectation, and for some of those players to exceed that in both games," Ashton said. "This is an interesting group of players, and I would be very surprised if they took a backward step in any area of the game. As far as I am concerned, damage limitation and Brian Ashton do not fit together."
But as for South Africa gaining a possible advantage before the World Cup, Ashton added: "The World Cup is going to be another game and another time. I have never been a believer in psychological blows six months before the World Cup begins."
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