Glory taken its toll

14 April 2012

Phil Vickery needs to become the Raging Bull again if he is to save his place in the England side.

The former Cornish herdsman has been too docile for his own liking and, with the Six Nations title in danger of slipping out of English hands and Julian White breathing down his neck, Vickery knows he will be expected to deliver against France in the Stade de France, Paris, tomorrow night the way he delivered against them in the World Cup semi-final.

Vickery said: 'I'll go down fighting if needs be. I'll give it all I've got. I don't doubt for one second that all the emotion after the World Cup affected me and many other players. With all kinds of stuff going on, it was bound to have an affect.'

The criticism over Ireland's win at Twickenham and the sweat to beat Wales there last week seem to have been getting to him.

'We have lost one game and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, saying what a bad team we are,' he said. 'A lot of people have been knocking the team in general and individuals in particularly and rightly so in some areas.

'Things hadn't been going all that well for me. I've been working hard trying to improve and get back to where I think I ought to be.

'It's not quite been happening for me and sometimes the harder you try, the worse it gets.

'I keep trying to analyse myself because I know I'm under pressure.

'You worry after every game whether you're going to get back in for the next one. I don't want anyone to be taking my shirt but with Jules (White) coming back and young Matt Stevens coming through, it's not easy.

'I get a bit annoyed when people just talk about Jules' scrummaging. There is far more to his game than that and, while I need the pressure from him, I'd like to think I can put pressure on him.

'I was pleased with my performance against Wales. Not the best in the world by any means, but an improvement. I'm not about to press any panic buttons, just keep my head down and keep grinding away.'

Pieter de Villiers, Vickery's opposite number, who will be scrummaging directly against another Gloucester Cornishman in loosehead prop Trevor Woodman, reveals to what extent France are being driven by their 24-7 knock-out in Sydney.

'It's fair to say we lost the plot that night,' the South African-born prop said. 'We need to win to wipe out the nightmare of that match.' As England players relaxed on their day off, Sir Clive Woodward took another dig at Andre Watson over his handling of the World Cup Final as 'the referee who nearly came close to influencing the outcome.'

Woodward added: 'Fortunately we won the World Cup and put that argument to bed as well. In six years I have never been able to say a referee has cost us that game or the referee won us that game. The guy in the World Cup Final was probably the closest we came to that.'

France coach Bernard Laporte applied the straightest of diplomatic bats yesterday to his opposite number's reference to the wet weather during the World Cup semi- final between the countries in the Telstra Stadium, Sydney, last November.

Woodward said: 'I was disappointed with the conditions that night. If it had been a good night we would have hammered them. I think the rain saved France.'

If Laporte felt annoyed, he did not show it.

'Maybe he's right, I don't know,' he said. 'The game is finished and nothing is going to change it.'

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Glory taken its toll

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