No-frills Vickery quick to play down expectations

Six Nations News:There was a brief period when England tried to jazz up the appointment of a new captain. Best of all was the introduction of Bath's Phil de Glanville, who emerged rather shamefacedly from behind a huge curtain at Twickenham in the early days of professionalism. It was Phil Vickery's turn to greet the media hordes yesterday, but the trumpeters and red-carpet treatment were conspicuously absent.

Talk about a muted fanfare for the common man. Vickery was late arriving at Wasps' training ground in Acton after being delayed on the tube from central London, where he had been attending a pilates class. Even before he slumped into a chair in the club canteen, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, it was obvious England's new captain will be fostering a no-frills regime.

From the tip of his close-cropped head to his mud-spattered brown shoes he is a realist, and England's head coach, Brian Ashton, will have been reassured by the tone of his opening address. Vickery is smart enough not to predict an instant turnaround, starting against Scotland on February 3rd, but accepts the only way is up.

"We all realise things have been pretty poor, certainly in the autumn series when there was a huge sense of disappointment and frustration," said the 30-year-old prop. "There's no point trying to take any positives out of it because there weren't many."

Vickery's diagnosis is that England in 2006 suffered death by a thousand small cuts, not one or two gaping wounds. "There have been so many things: the retirements, the injuries, the coaching, the rest periods, the tours . . . I don't think there is anything majorly wrong, it has just been a combination of small things. Now, though, we have a great opportunity to start something very special. I hope I can bring a certain amount of experience and I also think I work particularly well with people whether they are bus drivers, writers or rugby players.

"We've got a lot of talented players and some of them just need to realise it. There are no magic answers, but I hope we can all roll our sleeves up, work hard and show people we are capable of competing."

Keeping the captain fit would help. Ashton will have his fingers crossed, just as Andy Robinson did on the day in early October 2004 when he named Jonny Wilkinson as his captain for the forseeable future. Wilkinson, cruelly, has not worn the red rose jersey since. The biceps injury and knee ligament trouble which beset him that fateful winter were merely the start of a wretched sequence of lay-offs culminating in the lacerated kidney from which he is still recuperating and, which according to Newcastle fitness coach Steve Black, will keep him out of England's opening Six Nations match against Scotland next month.

How painfully ironic it would be, therefore, if Vickery's back fails him again between now and the World Cup in September and Wilkinson arrives in France fit and well. It has to be a possibility, simply by virtue of the law of averages. The fifth disc - the technical name L5-S1 - in Vickery's spine has been mended and trimmed far too often to be complacent. The last time it flared up was precisely 12 months ago, during Gloucester's Premiership game with Saracens at Vicarage Road. The pain was so bad the following week that even large doses of morphine had no effect. "It was impossible to sit, close to impossible to stand and very painful to lie down." Things got so bad he could not even pick up his baby daughter, Megan.

No wonder the prospect of a third back operation on the same area did not appeal, but his surgeon advised he had no choice.

Happily he feels fine at the moment. "As of this second I'm 100%. The ongoing conditioning and strength work will go on forever more but that's the same for 95% of guys. There have been a lot of low points but they make you realise how much you love the game and how much you want it back. When you stand on the side of the pitch at Twickenham in the autumn getting ready to come on, the sensation you get is the most amazing you'll ever feel."

Guardian Service