England need to be relentless in taking Romania apart in their Rugby World Cup encounter today as they look to set a new benchmark ahead of stiffer tests to come, manager Martin Johnson said yesterday.
Johnson has spent much of the last week talking about the negative aspects of his side’s 41-10 victory over Georgia, particularly the sloppy final quarter.
Having seen South Africa drive all the way to the whistle in thrashing Namibia 87-0 on Thursday, he is demanding the same focus from his players in their Pool B game.
“We need to be relentless. We need to come out and play to a certain level to give ourselves the best chance,” he told a press conference after the players trained at Otago Stadium. “We’ve got to set our sights high, higher than they were last week. You can say it any number of ways, but we’ve got to play a lot better. We scored six tries, but I’d be happier if we played a lot better and scored three or four.”
Victory should be a formality against Romania, who are resting several leading players ahead of their game against Georgia on Wednesday, so Johnson and his coaching staff will be looking for his team to follow the much-trumpeted “processes” demanded of them.
Johnson knows that Scotland, who they face in their final Pool B game the following Saturday, and their subsequent knockout phase opponents will provide a much tougher test.
England are virtually at full strength, with only injured duo Matt Stevens and Nick Easter, as well as suspended lock Courtney Lawes, unavailable and Johnson is happy that by the end of today’s game all the squad will have had a taste of the action.
“If they’d come off a long season it may be different, but they’ve not got a lot of game time, so you want to get everybody on the field,” Johnson said.
Easter’s back problem is improving and England will make a decision by the end of the weekend on whether to add Thomas Waldrom to the squad after he arrived in Dunedin this week as cover — meaning he cannot stay, travel or train with the squad.
Johnson still has the option of calling up someone else to replace prop Andrew Sheridan, who has gone home for shoulder surgery. England came out with five props in the group, so they may not make a like-for-like replacement.
Johnson said he was hedging his bets and waiting to see if any new injuries come out of today’s game.
Captain Lewis Moody said he has fully recovered from the knee problem that dogged him all year and kept him out of the opening win over Argentina.
“Getting on the pitch finally was the culmination of a lot of work,” said the flanker, who returned to lead the team against Georgia last Sunday. “It was frustrating, but I got through that game with no issues, so it’s all done and dusted now, and I’m really excited to be going out there.”
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