England 67 Georgia 3:THE PAINT had barely dried on England's 67-3 thrashing of Romania on Saturday when manager Martin Johnson began planning for next week's far tougher assignment against Scotland in their final Pool B game. If Scotland win and deny England a bonus point in the process, Johnson's side will be packing their bags.
England scored 10 tries, including hat-tricks for wingers Mark Cueto and Chris Ashton, in an impressive display, but Romania played a weakened team and produced some of the most naive defending seen at the tournament to date.
The England manager was quick to brush over the match and move on. “In certain aspects we didn’t get fully tested but that’s what World Cups are about too,” Johnson said.
“These games can be awkward, you get opportunities to do things you don’t normally get but when we played with tempo, they struggled to keep up with it so I’m pretty happy – job done.”
Having begun the tournament with three wins over Argentina, Georgia and Romania, and with two bonus points in the bag, England are where they would have hoped and expected to be but they are also well aware there is still much work to be done.
“Next week, it really starts in a way,” Johnson said. “It’ll be a scrap and we’ve got to be prepared.
“I’ve said to the guys, it’s not like Six Nations rugby or autumn series rugby. Argentina proved that.
“Hopefully we’ll have everyone available Monday and Tuesday for training. For us it’s a real big week and hopefully we’ll get the performance we need to win that one.”
England seem to have come through another game without any serious injury worries. Number eight Nick Easter, who missed the last two matches with a back problem, is “progressing” Johnson said, while prop Matt Stevens and wing Matt Banahan have recovered from their minor knocks.
Lock Courtney Lawes is also available again having served his two-match suspension.
With prop David Wilson, hooker Lee Mears and Cueto all getting their first taste of tournament action on Saturday all of Englands squad have been involved to some degree.
“We desperately wanted to give some guys some game time and we didn’t want to get anyone injured so there was a balance to be had there,” Johnson said.
“Really it’s a mental thing now this week, to get ourselves ready for this game because it’s going to be a big one.”
Number eight Thomas Waldrom, who flew to New Zealand last week as cover for Easter, has been officially added to the England squad as a formal replacement for prop Andrew Sheridan.
Uncapped Waldrom, a former New Zealand under-21 and New Zealand Maori representative, had not been allowed to train or stay with the squad since arriving in New Zealand but linked up with them yestrday.
ENGLAND: Foden, Ashton, Tuilagi, Tindall, Cueto, Wilkinson, Youngs, Corbisiero, Thompson, Cole, Deacon, Palmer, Croft, Moody, Haskell. Replacements: Armitage for Foden (51), Flood for Wilkinson (40), Wigglesworth for Youngs (61), Mears for Thompson (50), Wilson for Cole (40), Shaw for Deacon (57), Wood for Moody (61).
ROMANIA: Vlaicu, Ciuntu, Cazan, Dumitras, Apostol, Dumbrava, Sirbu, Nere, Zebega, Florea, Popirlan, Petre, Burcea, Ratiu, Tonita. Replacements: Nicolae for Vlaicu (71), Gal for Cazan (42), Calafeteanu for Sirbu (43), Tincu for Zebega (50), Ion for Florea (61), Macovei for Petre (52). Not Used: Ianus.
Referee: Romain Poite (France).
