Arrogant? Not us,says Greenwood

13 April 2012

England climb aboard flight BA15 at Heathrow tomorrow night for the expedition of their lives fortified by a cold piece of detached professionalism.

'It's time to go to work,' said Will Greenwood, relieved that, after 10 weeks' intensive preparations, the waiting is almost over. 'It's time to do our job.'

Nobody has done it better than England over the last 12 months. But there is clearly no danger of the No.1 contenders tripping themselves up by becoming overexcited at the prospect of succeeding in the mission to beat whoever else turns up at the World Cup Final in Sydney on November 22.

In their highly disciplined environment, nobody dares look beyond the next job, although England's progress from Grand Slam bottlers into potential World Cup winners has inspired a suitably athletic analogy from Greenwood, the team's peerless inside centre.

He said England were 'doing a Sergei Bubka every year' and, just like the great Ukrainian pole vaulter 'raising the bar ever higher'.

Greenwood, 31 next month, sounds almost as though he is clocking on for the nightshift rather than heading off on a journey which offers him and everyone else the prospect of returning home to the sort of tickertape welcome reserved for American presidents on Fifth Avenue.

For one of the freer spirits in the game, a man who remembers the old days as an amateur at Harlequins, to be talking in such prosaic terms speaks volumes for England's unity of purpose.

Greenwood, who in his inimitably selfdeprecating way describes himself as a 'simple northern monkey from Blackburn', said: 'I'm afraid I upset a former highranking British Army officer at a dinner the other day. He talked about Queen and country, all that sort of stuff and then asked me, "What's it really like in there? You know, the changing room?"

'I said, "I hate to shatter any of your illusions, sir, but it's just a case of 22 good mates looking each other in the eye, knowing that we are going out to do our job which is winning a Test match". I don't think the exofficer was over-impressed. "A job!" he spluttered. "It must be more than that".

'Then I explained to him what I meant. When I'm getting ready in the changing room, I look around at the rest of the players and make a mental note. Whoever I look at, the same thought goes through my head: "I know he will do his job. Now I have to make sure I do mine".

'You take great comfort and confidence and enthusiasm from just seeing the calibre of player around you. You know that if we play well, we will take some beating.

When we got into the changing room in Melbourne that night in June before going out to beat Australia, there were smiles but of a particular kind which is difficult to explain.

'They were not smiles of arrogance. They didn't say, "We're the kiddies, we're going to do it". They were smiles of a different kind which said, "Here we are again, fellas, another big Test". Do they call it a knowing look?'

According to Greenwood, the same knowing look and smiles of anticipation have been tested in the most demanding circumstances, like England's six remaining forwards - two had been sin-binned - packing down in front of their own posts against the All Blacks in the teeth of a Wellington squall.

As they prepared to man the barricades, Greenwood glanced across at fellow centre Mike Tindall.

'We smiled to each other because we knew we were really up against it,' he said. 'Despite the odds being stacked against us, we were totally relishing the challenge of keeping them out.

'I knew they wouldn't score because I knew there were people on my left and right who would run themselves into the ground rather than let that happen.

' The tackle count that night was phenomenal but we thrive under that sort of pressure and in that sort of atmosphere. Everyone hates us and wants to beat us. But we feed off that and draw strength from it, especially in away games when you can feel the animosity.

'The first time we played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was a good example and Scott Gibbs led Wales out like a gladiator. The atmosphere generated by a hugely patriotic Welsh crowd who wanted to stop England was just incredible.

'There is a massive pressure from within to succeed. Are we going to win the World Cup? Impossible to answer at this stage but what we do know is that we have a squad who are as well prepared as any side can possibly be. Do you need a slice of luck along the way? The last two winners, Australia in 1999 and South Africa in '95, were relatively injury-free. Yes, you do need an element of good fortune but we have cut down on what we require in that respect through our preparation.

'Four years ago we needed a lot of luck, didn't get much and failed to go beyond the last eight. This time we ought not to need as much.'

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