Rugby World Cup: Ben Kay issues rallying call to England

Oct 2 2007 by Andrew Baldock, Liverpool Daily Post

WORLD CUP winner Ben Kay has rallied England for their quarter-final showdown with Australia, declaring: “We have to perform as though our lives depend on it.”

England headed for Marseille yesterday, revitalised by successive victories over Samoa and Tonga that represented an impressive recovery from a record 36-0 loss against South Africa.

Leicester lock Kay helped England land the Webb Ellis Trophy in Sydney four years ago.

But unlike on that occasion, Kay and company now prepare to renew World Cup hostilities with their arch-rivals, ranked as clear underdogs.

Kay said: “We will have to be better than what we have been, but every game since the South Africa match we’ve got better and better, so we need to keep continuing that trend. We know we will have to be at the top of our game to beat the Australians.

“Australia have always been the brightest team in world rugby, in terms of intelligence and knowledge of the game, and you just can’t afford to make errors against them. They will throw something you haven’t seen before at you, they will do everything very well and make the right decisions.

“There is probably a bit of satisfaction in the way the boys have responded to having their backs against the wall and fighting their way out.

“But we didn’t come into this tournament just to make the quarter-finals – we want to go a lot further. It’s nice to be in the knockout stage proper, rather than having caused ourselves to be in a knockout situation two games earlier by having to beat Samoa and Tonga.

“We will be disappointed if we go home at the weekend.”

England are braced for a predictable barrage of Australian verbal banter this week in the build-up to their biggest Test since 2003.

Kay came in for some jocular treatment after he blew a certain try in the 2003 final by dropping the ball as he went over the Australian line.

Kay said: “When I first started playing against Australia, maybe it would have got under my skin a bit, but I’ve got a lot of Australian mates and they are all like that!

“It comes with the rivalry we’ve got with Australia. These matches are great fun to play in because of that. It’s a bit of paper talk that the media probably get more excited about than we do.

“I am sure, if I am lucky enough to play, I will get reminded of it (the dropped pass). It happened, and there is nothing I can do about it now.

“It happened ages ago, and fortunately it didn’t have too much of a bearing on the result.

“When I think about it, funnily enough I think I wish I had caught it! If it had happened anywhere else on the pitch, no-one would have remembered it. I took my eye off the ball and looked at the defender coming in, thought about trying to make sure I didn’t drop it after I caught it, which is obviously a disastrous thing to do.

“I enjoy the Australian psyche, none more so than the last World Cup final.

“All week leading up to it they gave us absolute hell, but the morning after the game the Sydney Morning Herald showed what a great sporting nation they really are by admitting they were beaten by a better side.

“For all the grief they give us before games, they play all sport in the manner it should be played.”

England received a double boost when Jason Robinson and Tom Rees resumed full training yestrday.

England head coach Brian Ashton is due to announce his starting line-up today, with both Robinson and Rees likely to feature in the shake-up alongside centre Andy Farrell, prop Phil Vickery and lock Simon Shaw, who could all be recalled.