Stuart Lancaster is looking to invoke the spirit of 2003 by establishing supremacy over the leading southern hemisphere nations, all of whom visit Twickenham next month for the final time before next year’s World Cup, which England will host.
When England arrived in Australia for the 2003 World Cup they had defeated New Zealand, Australia and South Africa since the previous tournament, home and away, in what is their best sequence of results against them. Lancaster looks to next year’s tournament, and a group that includes the Wallabies, knowing the recent record against the trio needs to improve.
Since the 2007 World Cup England have played the big three 23 times, winning four and drawing one. Under Lancaster the record is two victories, one draw and eight defeats. England have beaten Australia in three of the last four matches but they have lost 13 times out of 14 to the All Blacks and have not defeated the Springboks since 2006.
“The clock is ticking,” said Lancaster. “Playing at Twickenham is important for us and getting on top of the southern hemisphere is imperative. In my time in charge we have never gone into matches against them thinking we would be happy to lose but we certainly feel that after nearly three years together our target should be to win all the matches with just 12 to go before the World Cup.
“Every time you pick a team and play a game you learn about the players. You watch as many DVDs and as many games live as you want but you only truly learn about players when you coach them yourself in your environment and work with them daily. You see their ability to cope with the demands of a big international in the lead-up to it, how they deal with defeat, how they deal with the review. It helps inform your decisions on the players and the four games will give us a lot on that. I don’t think we will go four games on the bounce with the same starting XV and the same bench. It has never happened, not even in 2003.”
Lancaster has retained Chris Robshaw as captain while admitting the flanker’s place in the team through to the World Cup is not a given, with Matt Kvesic, who is expected to be added to the squad this week, and Will Fraser being closely monitored. “Matt has certainly improved this season under Laurie Fisher’s coaching [at Gloucester], such as his decision-making at the breakdown. Will has suffered from injuries but, if they continue to push,
we will have a decision to make. I can’t give guarantees to anyone, not even the captain. People have to earn their right to get into the team.”The back row decision will not involve Steffon Armitage after Bath’s failed attempt to sign the back rower from Toulon. Asked if the door were closed to the 29-year old, Lancaster replied: “In the short-term, yes. He has chosen to stay at Toulon and we will have to see how it plays out and if there is any truth in the rumour he wants to go down a different nationality route. I’ve made it clear that in order to be playing in this series and the Six Nations he would have to be back here playing, and he’s not.”
Lancaster and his coaching team have been given extended contracts through to the end of the 2019 World Cup, a decision that was not greeted with universal acclaim, because of the timing rather than concerns about the direction England are going in. The 2003 World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward questioned whether it would take the edge off the management team.
“There will be no complacency and no desire to relax,” Lancaster said. “I cannot think of any minute of any day when I am not thinking about the job, how I can improve and do better for the team. You want to represent your country in a World Cup but for me the biggest motivation is to have long-term success and we have a pipeline of talent coming through which will allow us to build the group.”
