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Rugby Union

Wilkinson plans to stand up to Boks

02/06/2007

Jonny Wilkinson says England will "stand up" to South Africa when they face them in the second Test in Pretoria today.

England suffered a humiliating 58-10 defeat last week but Wilkinson says the team will not let that happen again and that they have great belief in themselves.

The Newcastle fly-half has been made captain due to an injury to Jason Robinson and the 28-year-old is looking forward to leading the team out against the Boks.

He said: "It is a massive privilege and honour for me, but it doesn't change my approach to things. It has been an interesting couple of weeks, which makes it even more of a challenge.

"There is a genuine belief we are going somewhere, and the feeling is a hugely positive one. We plan to go out there and stand up to it."

Wilkinson was made captain immediately after the World Cup after Martin Johnson retired but a horrific run of injuries prevented him from fulfilling that role.

Coach Brian Ashton has no doubt that Wilkinson will be able to perform well as the team's captain and says he has been impressed with his leadership in training.

Ashton said the fly-half was not a "tub-thumping guy" but talked methodically.

The coach feels his inexperienced side have benefited from their game last week and will perform better today.

He said: "The players have been remarkably positive, and we are better prepared this week because we actually played a Test match last week. We know that South Africa are a very difficult side to play against."

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