Courtney Lawes has described England qualifying for the World Cup knockouts with a game to spare as ‘objective one achieved’. But his grand ambitions lie far beyond that.
‘It’s great that we’re through to the quarter-finals, but that’s not why we came,’ said Lawes, who captained the side during wins over Argentina and Japan.
‘We came here to have a good shot at the cup at the end. Hopefully we’ll bring the nation along with us. Everyone is more optimistic about our chances now and that means a lot.’
Lawes sensed the impatience of fans after three defeats out of four during the August warm-ups, but he was convinced that an upturn was imminent.
‘I wouldn’t say it was worrying, we knew we’d done all the hard yakka,’ he said. ‘We went into those games tired and it’s hard to play when you’re tired, funnily enough! But we knew it would start to click. We said it after every game, every loss!
Courtney Lawes captained England during wins over Argentina and Japan at the World Cup
‘We never gave up and we’ve given ourselves a shot to go on and do something really great.’
New Zealand boss Ian Foster ignited a debate about tactics after his team thrashed Italy last week, but Lawes is happy to embrace England’s strategic variety.
‘We’re a really strong defensive team,’ added Lawes, ahead of the final group stage game against Samoa on Saturday.
‘That’s our backbone. We’ve conceded one try in three games. We’re looking to build attacks off that. Hopefully, later in the tournament, we’ll show a different side to us.’
