UFO Info Week-End

Self-doubt is something for other people to talk about

Self-doubt is something for other people to talk about.WEEK FOURThe intensity of the training decreased We had a day at a water park and a golfing day. If that had carried on through the whole match then we’d have been in trouble But wewere expecting it. And when it came to half-time and we needed to regroup, Martin Johnson was instrumental in that happening He just won’t lose In the second half we slowly built momentum and pressure We won. We knew we could be in for a rough time: the question was how to come through it.MATCH THREESunday 26 OctoberGroup match, MelbourneEngland 35 Samoa 22They were fast and powerful from the start, rampaging wide, putting us under huge amounts of pressure. We stepped it up to a physical level, our forwards played well, Jonny kicked the goals Job done. What happens outside the camp and what other people think about our performances don’t come into it. The aim was to win and we did.WEEK THREEOther people’s expectations are something we can’t do anything about, so when people say we should beat Samoa easily, that’s just their opinion We never underestimated what they could do.

Iain comes from Lancashire and I come from Yorkshire and the nickname was coined by the southern shandies in the squad.WEEK TWOWe always knew the match with South Africa was going to be massive. Win it and we’d be on course for the side of the draw that we favoured. Lose and things could become more difficult at the quarter-final stage. On top of that, the match had been built up as the latest installment in a grudge match because we’ve had some fairly tasty games against South Africa, some really physical battles.Inside the camp, we regarded the stuff in the press as banter and nothing more.MATCH TWOSaturday 18 OctoberGroup match, PerthEngland 25 South Africa 6You’ve got be up for it and our attitude won the day.

We had an overlap and Jonny Wilkinson passed to me, but one of their players was coming at me and I was sure he was going to smash straight into me Somehow I slipped through. What an unbelievable way to start.I rushed off into the corner where all our supporters were and I gave them the old monkey wave, flapping my hand around in front of my face. In the England squad, Iain Balshaw and I are known as the northern monkeys. Odd, yes, but it comes from the old TV seriesMonkey, where the guy used to blow kisses and do funny things with his hands. We were raring to go.MATCH ONESunday 12 OctoberGroup match, PerthEngland 84 Georgia 6I don’t get too many tries so to score England’s first of the World Cup within minutes of our opener was something else That’ll stay with me, every second.