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Rugby Union

Ashton promises improvement

20/08/2007

England coach Brian Ashton is confident that his players will turn in far better performances at September's World Cup than they have in their final two warm-up games for the tournament.

The defending world champions failed to boost their hopes of retaining the trophy with a 22-9 defeat against France in Marseilles on Saturday and a 21-15 reverse to the same opponents at Twickenham the previous week.

Ashton blamed an intense training schedule for his team's failure to build on a solid first-half showing and claimed the matches had helped him narrow down his options for the first game of the campaign against USA on September 8th.

"I am pretty close to knowing my starting XV against America, and I will pick the strongest team, assuming they are all fit," he said.

"We've been training twice a day between Tests and the players' energy levels clearly dipped in the second half. They need a rest and will be off this week, rejoining the squad on August 29th," he said.

Number eight Lawrence Dallaglio, a key part of the 2003 winning side who appeared for the second half of this weekend's clash, also predicted a sharp improvement in England's play once the serious matches are underway.

"Those sort of mistakes will not be happening come the games against USA and South Africa and I expect to see an extra 20, 30, 40 per cent from every player in the squad," he said.

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