Guardian Unlimited  -
19 hours and 41 minutes ago
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href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/englandrugbyunionteam"England's/a two surviving forwards from
last year's World Cup final defeat by a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/southafricarugbyteam"South Africa/a are both promising to
redress the balance when the countries meet again at Twickenham this afternoon. To say Phil Vickery
and Nick Easter are keen to atone for England's 15-6 defeat in Paris would be a massive
understatement, with Vickery still insistent that the Springboks were somewhat fortunate to walk
away with the Webb Ellis Cup./ppIt is Vickery's enduring belief that England might have upset their
opponents on the night had they not been forced to battle so hard en route to the final after their
heavy early pool loss to the Boks. "I think it could have been won but we'd probably played too
many 'finals' already," said Vickery, looking forward with visible enthusiasm to today's Investec
Challenge Series match. "It was similar to what happened in 2003 ... we'd probably have lost our
next game if we'd had to play again after that final in Sydney./pp"In fairness to South Africa they
stuck to their game plan and, at times, produced some pretty good rugby. But we just made too many
mistakes." Vickery, who also reveals in today's Twickenham match programme that he enjoyed the 2007
World Cup experience more than the 2003 tournament, had already secured a winners' medal four years
earlier but his team-mate Easter acknowledged yesterday his own frustration had yet to fade. "There
is a sense of regret. As Rob Andrew told us afterwards, you never get over it. We've now got a
chance to play the world champions in our backyard and put one over on them. They only really come
over for one game and it's us."/ppThe World Cup head coach, Brian Ashton, may have gone but his
successor, Martin Johnson, has made a point of sitting his team down this week to watch clips from
the final which underline the importance of discipline. "We highlighted a few areas from that
game," said Johnson, "and one of them was penalties. A few indisciplined penalties early in that
game really cost that England team. They gave South Africa nine points which proved to be the
difference in the end."/ppAside from Vickery and Easter, the only other member of the England XV
from the 2007 final in today's starting line-up is the winger Paul Sackey, one of eight Wasps on
the team-sheet with another colleague - Simon Shaw - among the replacements. If Shaw comes on, he
will win his 50th cap and ensure the domestic champions equal Leicester's all-time record of nine
players from one club winning England caps on the same day. /ppIn particular, Johnson is
challenging Danny Cipriani to prove he can run a Test match and put last week's 28-14 defeat by
Australia behind him. "He's 21 years old and he has to deal with these situations. It's the first
time he's been in a series of this intensity, with people speculating about him. People want
instant superstars and results, and there's a massive expectation on him."/ppCipriani, who has
raised eyebrows by continuing to seek goalkicking tuition at squad sessions from England's
erstwhile kicking guru Dave Alred rather than the official kicking coach, Jon Callard, will need to
be on-song with the boot in what should be a tight, heavy-duty encounter. /ppBarring a big win for
Argentina over Ireland, victory would assure England of a top-four place in the IRB world rankings
and preferential seeding at next month's World Cup pool draw. South Africa's outstanding locks, not
to mention their powerful loose-forward trio, will have other ideas, but England are the fresher
side and do not lack for motivation./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom:
10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/autumn-internationals"Autumn
internationals/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/englandrugbyunionteam"England rugby
union team/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/southafricarugbyteam"South Africa rugby
team/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion"Rugby union/a/li/ul/divdiv
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