Stuart Lancaster cited the Twickenham factor as a reason why England will be hard to beat in the World Cup after they headed into the tournament on a winning note by beating the Six Nations champions Ireland.
It is more than three years since any other European team won at Twickenham while World Cup group rivals Australia have lost on their past two visits to HQ. South Africa are the only side in the top 10 of the world rankings that England have not beaten since Lancaster took over as head coach.
“We wanted an improved performance after the defeat in France and we got it,” said Lancaster after the 21-13 victory. “The set-pieces and discipline were better and we controlled the territory. We dealt with Ireland’s aerial threat well and the positioning of our back three ensured there was not much grass to be exploited.”
Asked if England were ready for the World Cup or if a squad containing three players who had reached 50 caps was a few years short of its peak, he said: “We are ready now. There are six or seven teams who could win the World Cup and whoever does so will have put a run of seven performances together, but playing at Twickenham the way we did today, we are a hard team to beat.”
Chris Robshaw, who will lead England out on their next appearance here, for the World Cup opener against Fiji, was pleased but not satisfied. “We got the start we wanted and scored some good tries but we were not quite clinical enough after that,” he said. “We are in a better place than we were two weeks ago after losing in Paris but we still have a way to go. What today has shown is that when we are at Twickenham and the crowd is right behind us, we are hard to beat.”
Robshaw was cited by the forwards coach, Graham Rowntree, as a significant factor in the transformation from Paris. “Chris takes a lot of criticism but he got hold of the players this week and he was fantastic for us.”
Ireland have lost to Wales and England in successive weeks, two teams who meet in the World Cup at Twickenham at the end of the month. “Wales have a simple gameplan that they stick to rigidly but England have more variety,” said the Ireland captain, Paul O’Connell, when asked who he thought would win. “They are both big strong sides but they are different in the way they approach and play the game. It was disappointing to lose to them both, but we feel we are ready for the World Cup. We just need to bring everything together.”
