England raring to go in Pretoria
As England traipsed off the field in Bloemfontein, heads bowed, and bodies exhausted, the scoreboard behind them told the tale of a team that maybe should have stayed at home.
So the prospect of a second Test in Pretoria, at the time, would hardly have seemed like an endearing one. Yet as England recover and lick their wounds, of which there are many, there is an air of anticipation growing within the camp.
Captain Jason Robinson, who sat out of training on Tuesday with fluid on the knee, is relishing the chance to rectify the myriad wrongs from the first Test.
Despite the injury Robinson and the England medical staff are fully confident he will be available for selection.
Whilst realising there is plenty of work to do before Saturday’s clash in Pretoria, Robinson, along with his battered and bruised troops, is itching for kick off.
“Saturday can’t come quickly enough to be honest, as we know we are better than last Saturday,” said Robinson.
“We know in the first half we gifted them three easy tries. The first I honestly thought we would have a penalty for but the second two were from our own errors.
“We gifted them turnover ball, and before you know it they have scored. That, for us, was the difference in the first half.”
The main concern for the English camp however will be the ease with which South Africa scored their last four tries, all coming within a twelve-minute purple patch in the closing stages of the game.
“In the last ten minutes it just opened and they really ran away with it,” admitted Robinson.
“However there are no excuses at this level. To say we were or were not tired in the last ten minutes is not a reason.
“The truth of the matter is you can’t afford to let the amount of tries in as we did. We have got to take a good look at ourselves and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
With England in the same pool as South Africa in the World Cup later this year much has been made of the psychological effects that a repeat trouncing on Saturday could have on the England team.
However Robinson feels the tour is actually ideal preparation leading into their World Cup defence.
“To be honest with you I think the tour is good preparation for the World Cup, as odd as that may seem,” said Robinson.
“It is giving us a chance to expose some guys to this environment and the challenges that you face at test level.
“We are not in the same position as when we went into the 2003 Rugby World Cup but we still have a lot of players there with the hunger and determination to defend the trophy.”
It is defeats such as the one experienced in the first Test that help the team develop and find their character according to Robinson, who was virtually shut out of the first Test.
“I do actually see failure as part of success,” he said.
“You have to go through times where things are not going right to see the true character within the team and yourself.
“We have got to work hard to turn it around, just because you have done well in the past it doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed that for the next game.”
Whatever the next game brings it is going to take a monumental England effort to turn this tour around and all that with a squad already severely depleted by injury and illness – which now includes James Simpson-Daniel.
“We truly believe we can turn things around, but at the end of the day we will see what happens on Saturday as the proof is in the pudding,” concluded Robinson.
By Marcus Leach in Centurion
