England won the World Cup in 2003 and reached the final four years later, but next month’s tournament is about exorcising the ghosts of 2011 when calamities on and off the field in New Zealand saw them fail to reach the last four for the first time in 12 years.
Stuart Lancaster was appointed the head coach in the fallout from that campaign, initially on a caretaker basis. His brief was not only to restore England’s reputation as a rugby team but to eradicate the disruptive cult of the individual that had built up and, in the parlance of the time, create a culture based on the collective.
England may have not won the Six Nations under Lancaster, although their record in the last four years has not been bettered by any of the other five contenders, but they have beaten New Zealand, drawn in South Africa and established a winning run against pool rivals Australia.
“It is a completely different set-up to 2011,” said the scrum-half Ben Youngs, the only back involved in that tournament who is still first choice in his position. “There are only eight of us still there and the set-up now is a world apart from what it was then. I do not think there will be any issues: guys are committed to the opportunity, and what a chance we have playing in a home World Cup.
“It is very much player-led now. Stuart encourages people to lead and to talk. His door is always open and all the coaches want to tap into your knowledge because you’re the ones on the field. They give you the framework – this is how we’re going to play, this is how we’ll attack it – now you as players go and own it. Make sure you buy into it. If you want to tweak something, tweak something, but the culture is that if you go out as an individual you are in the wrong team set-up. It is a lot different and there is a real understanding between players and coaches that allows you to say if you do not think something will work – after running it in training, a coach will say he sees your point and we tweak it. We did not have those conversations before.”
Youngs was not involved in ’s warmup against France at Twickenham but is in line to start in the return in Paris at the weekend when England are expected to name the nucleus of the team that will start the opening match of the World Cup against Fiji next month. The approach, he says, is the same whatever team takes the field, comparing the licence to play with the England cricket team that has just regained the Ashes.
“The attitude is that if you see something, go for it,” said Youngs. “If you give enough to players to lead, it helps the environment; you feel not just a part of it but that you own it. Everyone buys into it. Stuart had the vision and laid the foundations four years ago; everything is concrete now. We know that we cannot start the World Cup slowly – the opening game will be a tough one against Fiji and we have to be right on it. We are in a demanding pool [with Wales and Australia] but that works well because you have to play well from the start and will be battle-hardened come the knockout stage. There will be no burnout.”
Asked if players knew what they were expected to deliver in 2011, Youngs replied: “The Scotland game at Eden Park springs to mind. It was really scrappy and we ground it out. We lost to France in the quarter-finals and it was nothing like it is now. I wish I knew then what I do today because I could have done something different. The players who were in New Zealand can explain that to the others and stress that we have to be up for it straight away.”
Youngs partnered Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood in the last World Cup. His partner this time is set to be a player who was involved in age-group rugby then: George Ford, a former colleague at Leicester who moved to Bath two summers ago.
“George and I have known each other for a fair few years now as he started his career at Leicester,” said Youngs. “We developed an understanding there and it came out in the final game of this year’s Six Nations against France. We felt that performance was a long time coming: the week before against Scotland we made seven line-breaks without turning one into a try. The question now is whether we will take four of them, then five, then six. Ultimately, you want to be like New Zealand and take seven from seven.”
After the World Cup, Youngs will return with his brother, Tom, to Leicester where the former New Zealand centre Aaron Mauger is now in charge of attack. “I am really excited by the mindset he will bring,” said Youngs. “You just look at how the Crusaders played. I played alongside him at Leicester and when he retired at the age of 28, his knowledge was that of a 38-year-old. We struggled massively last year in attack and he will provide the perfect change and bring fresh ideas.”
