Jason Robinson: Key to Rugby World Cup glory is how young England players cope with pressure

 
Impressive: George Ford has been one of the key driving forces behind this England team
Jason Robinson10 June 2015

The Six Nations will look small in comparison to what the England players are going to experience at the Rugby World Cup.

It will dwarf anything they have played in and that is the magnitude of what they are about to embark on.

I was fortunate to play in three World Cups — one at home in rugby league in 1995 when we were runners-up and two away with England in union, winning the tournament in Australia in 2003 and losing the final to South Africa in France four years later.

Whether home advantage is a positive or a negative depends on the mentality of the players.

The plus side is that all the training facilities are familiar and you don’t need to get used to anything.

Also, family and friends are around to catch up with rather than being on the other side of the world. In 2003 we only discovered just how many people had been behind the team when we saw the reaction on our return home.

The flip side of being the hosts is that you are under a lot of pressure and it is all about how you cope with it. Not all of the games will go your way and then it comes down to whether you can handle the reaction from the media and the negative comments.

I said in 2011 that if New Zealand did not win that Cup, the players would have had to move abroad!

It won’t be as intense for England because there are other sports going on at the same time but there are a lot of young players in the squad who don’t have a lot of international experience and so it could go either way. I just wish I was 15 years younger because having played in three World Cup finals and knowing the process from start to finish, I understand how big an opportunity this is — it is going to be bigger than anything that has gone before. I have been very impressed with George Ford, who has been one of the key driving forces behind this England team.

He was immense in the Six Nations. Here was a young lad delivering under intense pressure by bringing creativity, playing flat and reading the game well.

One of my biggest concerns for England going into the World Cup was ensuring the back line is working but Ford and his Bath teammate Jonathan Joseph have been very impressive and eased my fears.

Everyone is talking, understandably, about the big three teams vying for the two quarter-final places from England’s group with Australia and Wales also in there. However, you have to recognise that Fiji will also be a factor in the pool because they are so unpredictable.

When I played in the 2007 World Cup, Fiji made the quarter-finals having beaten Wales and then they came very close to overcoming South Africa.

Fiji could be a potential banana skin for any of the teams because if they get the bounce of the ball and things click then they will cause problems. As a nation, they love to run with the ball and possess great footwork in both the forwards and the backs.

When you look at potential champions you have to focus on the All Blacks squad featuring players such as Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Read and Ma’a Nonu.

They have so many world-class players with a big-game mentality.

If you put money on the potential winners you would back the All Blacks but my heart wants England to triumph and to do that they must first top their pool.

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