England Coach Stuart Lancaster acknowledges that his team have been drawn in a tough group for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but believes that they should be excited about the challenge.
The host nation will face southern Hemisphere giants, Australia as well as current Six Nations Champions, Wales in Group A. In addition to that, they will also pit their wits against two as of yet unnamed countries with Fiji very likely to take up one of those places.
With only two teams able to qualify for the quarter finals, it means that the Red Rose will have to be at their very best to extend their tournament beyond the Group stage on home soil.
However, Lancaster’s men will have been given a huge injection of belief following their wonderful 38-21 victory over the all-conquering New Zealand at Twickenham last week and the Head Coach says that his team shouldn’t be fazed by the task facing them in 2015:
“It’s a tough pool,” Lancaster said. “I guess it is fate that Wales and England would be put together. To get through the pool, you will need to be consistent. Wales, I’ve got a huge amount of respect for what they’ve done recently. To win the Rugby World Cup you have to win big games. We will look forward to it, it is unbelievably exciting. Australia have just beaten us and are an incredibly competitive nation.”
England will be hoping to fare a lot better than the last World Cup, which saw them disappointingly beaten by France at the quarter final stage.
That performance ultimately cost Martin Johnson his job in charge on the national side, and ever since Stuart Lancaster has tried to assemble a young side that would be capable of challenging in 2015.
Despite some substandard displays against the Australians and the South Africans earlier in the autumn, England showed their true potential against the All Blacks and restored the belief that they could develop into a top class side.
Now the challenge is for England to continue that progression during the upcoming Six Nations Championship in the spring where Lancaster’s men will no doubt have ambitions to wrestle the crown back from Grand Slam Champions Wales.
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