Johnno on... holding your nerve
Hi, not long to go now. England are just one game away from another final.
This is a wonderful match to look forward to; France in Paris, in a World Cup semi-final, a repeat of four years, all the history of England-France games…
Having said all that, you can’t get carried away with the magnitude of the occasion. You’re losing the point. You must treat it as another game of rugby, achieve your basic aims and go from there. You can’t be worrying about the fact that it’s a World Cup semi-final. You’re playing France, 'what do you need to do to beat them?' That’s what you’ve got to worry about.
The build-up will be immense and the atmosphere will be incredible. Both teams will be nervous, but it’s controlling that anxiety and turning that into a performance.
France will be in a very good frame of mind psychologically after winning in Cardiff, but it was do or die for them. To go out of your own World Cup in the quarter-final would not have been nice and they turned in a great performance. But now they’re back at home and just one game away from the final so if England can turn that into frustration and desperation, that could be crucial.
Everyone thought you were down and out. I never believed you played like world champions from the day after you won in 2003. I watched every game and suffered with you. The lowest point was 36-0 against SA. Since then I have been proud to watch the belief in the players increase game by game. Mr Ashton has always believed. I watched the destruction of the arrogant Australians(not all of them deserve the title) and tonight I feel sympathy for a French side who believed and made magic against NZ but when "Le Crunch" came they didn't believe enough. Awesome performances from all players and at the end it wasn't apenalty and a drop goal that made the difference but 5 points born out of a skillful kick, a perfect bounce and a try that Josh Lewsey accepted despite a good tackle from Msr Traille. Whatever the result next weekend I am proud to be an englishman (yes, I've had a few). Hope you stuff 'em boys!
Posted by: Peter | 13 October 2007 at 22:55