Rugby World Cup 2011: England seek solution to their problems in clear-the-air team meeting

Both the England management and squad hoped the clear-the-air meeting at the team’s hotel in Dunedin would draw a line in the sand after two unconvincing displays in their victories over Argentina and Georgia and the off-field controversy following their night on the tiles in Queenstown last week.

Martin Johnson, the England manager, and several senior players were fiercely critical of the performance against Georgia, even though the six-try victory put England top of Pool B at the halfway stage.

The alarming propensity to give away penalties and the failure to build pressure by retaining possession and stick to game plans honed in training were expected to be top of the agenda.

England fly-half Toby Flood said he hoped the meeting would serve as a “kick up the ass” after urging his team-mates to take more responsibility for the poor decision-making on the field that has blighted England’s campaign so far.

“It’s about time we took some of these shots on the chin,” said Flood, who kicked 11 points and helped create two of England’s six tries against the Georgians in a display that has put pressure on Jonny Wilkinson for the fly-half position.

“We’ll get better and we’ll learn from this. I think it might work in our favour. It might be a scenario of saying ‘OK, this is time for the squad really to pull together and say gone are the days of us getting away with this scenario where we’re trying things and it’s all right’.

“There is a time and a place for that. Maybe when you are 40 points up that is the time to try things. We have to be a bit more savvy in terms of what we’re doing.

“We’re frustrated with massive parts of our game and are a little bit disappointed with certain aspects of it. We are pleased with bits of it but if we’re realistic we need to improve in certain areas and improve on what we’re doing.”

It was a player-driven meeting in France in 2007, following a 36-0 defeat by South Africa in the pool stages, that inspired Brian Ashton’s side to reach the final in Paris against the odds. England lost narrowly, 15-6, to the South Africans after a contentious decision by the television match official to disallow a Mark Cueto try.

Flood, who appeared off the bench in that final, said lessons had to be learned quickly if the present squad were to have any hope of going the distance in New Zealand and called for his team-mates to examine their own contributions.

The Leicester fly-half admitted it was a concern that the defeat by Ireland in the Six Nations and the performances against Argentina and Georgia appeared to have a recurring theme, centred around poor discipline at the breakdown and a lack of focus and precision. “Tell me about it,” said Flood. “It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s one of those personal ownership things and as a squad we have to drive it as a unit.

“But we all have to put our hands up and say ‘If I had a 24-hour video session and watched myself in the game, would I be happy with what I’ve done, and what I’d said?’ For a lot of us the answer would be ‘no’.

“As a squad we’ve got to get better at that and actually drive standards on and off the field and drive standards when we’re training to get better. We always want to improve and we always want to get better and we’re disappointed with what’s happened.

“But there’s a time and a place for saying ‘we’ll get better, we’ll get better’. The most important thing is to be pretty clear and concise about how we’re going to do it. We have to be accountable as individuals.”

Asked whether he was referring to the players’ being accountable for their off-field behaviour as well, Flood added: “No I’m just saying, on a training day, are we getting through the reps we need to do?

“Are we getting through the things we need to do as individuals? Are we doing things as a team that put us in the right position? I think we are, but the personal ownership thing is the 24-hour video saying if you’re sat back at the end of the day and you’re happy then you’re in a good place.”

That England find themselves soul-searching after two wins says much about the extent of the expectation from within and without the squad. Despite his stern warning, Flood maintains that his hopes of repeating the 2003 World Cup win are still firmly alive.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could win it,” Flood added. “I don’t think anybody would have got on that plane if they didn’t think we could win the tournament.

“We realise how difficult it would be to win it. It’s a massive, massive test for us and we have a huge group to get out of. Romania and Scotland are two massive tests for us, especially Scotland. If they beat Argentina that could be a massive test for us.

“We realise how difficult it’s going to be but if there is anybody in that 30, or 29 now Andrew Sheridan has gone home, who thinks that then they might as well join him and go home. Because that is what we’re here for.”