Peacock: 'We'll put things right'

Skipper promises major improvement

By Simon Dilger   Last updated: 14th November 2008

Peacock: 'We'll put things right'

Peacock: Improvement

It's how you react after a loss and what you do in that week. We're ready to put things right.

Jamie Peacock
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Jamie Peacock is confident his side can banish the memory of last week's second-half nightmare against New Zealand when the teams meet again in Saturday's World Cup semi-final.

Peacock insists that England have learned their lessons after throwing away a 24-8 lead to lose 36-24 in their final pool match in Newcastle.

And the England captain has promised a major improvement when the teams fight it out for a place in the final at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

"It's not gone, you can learn from it," said Peacock, who was also in the side humiliated 49-6 by Frank Endacott's Kiwis in the 2000 semi-final.

"That's professional sport. Some weeks you're going to lose, some weeks you're going to win.

"It's how you react after a loss and what you do in that week. We're ready to put things right."

Mockery

Coach Tony Smith remains optimistic about his side's ability, despite a series of lacklustre performances in the group stages.

But he has no doubts that his side will need to be much better against the Kiwis at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

Asked what they needed to do he said: "Play two halves, hopefully. We did enough good things to encourage us.

"They're a very good team but I think we showed enough signs that are encouraging for us. We've still got a lot of hope."

One man who will receive particular attention is winger Manu Vatuvei who made a mockery of England's right side of defence, scoring four of his side's seven tries, three of them in the second half.

"He had a strong finish to the game," admitted Smith. "We need to combat him.

"We presented a few too many opportunities for him and that's one of the aspects we've been working on this week."

Damage

Opposite number Mark Calderwood is also determined to prevent the 112kg New Zealand Warrior from causing any more damage.

"They've got 17 good players and we're going to have to watch them all," he said.

"Obviously, Vatuvei scoring four tries, he stands out, and we're going to have to get in his face.

"If I'm there, or whoever is there, is going to have to watch him closely.

"The back three have been working hard this week on what we need to improve on and there are areas that we all three need to improve on."

England's 6,000-strong following of fans will be heading to Brisbane hoping that last week's surrender will not have battered an already fragile confidence.

But Calderwood insists that with the final in sight and possible World Cup glory just two games away, England are ready to dig deep.

"We've kept faith with each other," he said. "We know there's a big prize at the end of it. That's not changed since we've been here.

"We've looked at the video at what we need to do and what we can do better and that's what we will try and do."