Lewsey: England feeling good
Josh Lewsey told the Rugby Club about renewed optimism in the England camp.
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A fresh season in England and fresh hope for the national team.
The rugby world is one year away from another World Cup and so everyone is assessing their chances, and nowhere more so than in England.
After a run of five consecutive defeats and with head coach Andy Robinson under pressure to perform with a new boss, Rob Andrew, installed above him, few give England a chance.
However the mood in the England camp is good, according to full back and winger Josh Lewsey, and he told the Rugby Club that with Brian Ashton back on board coaching the back division, there is a renewed vigour among the players and a determination to play more attractive rugby.
He said: "There is a good feeling around the place. We are fully aware that England, and indeed the Premiership, have regressed quite a lot over the last couple of years.
"We are high on physical power and exertion and intensity but sometimes lack a bit of creativity and thought.
"There needs to be an extra vibrancy in the way we play really. It would be fair to say that England has been poor for the last few years.
"Northern hemisphere rugby has, by and large, relied heavily on shutting games down and on restricted, safety first sort of stuff. We play the percentage game, we have been brought up on that sort of culture."
If England wants an example of how to add vibrancy to their game, they need look no further than their next opponents, New Zealand.
The All Blacks are rated by nearly everyone as the best team on the planet, the favourites to win the World Cup and England will see how far they have moved on under their new regime when they kick start their November international series against them at Twickenham in just over a month's time.
Lewsey says that the All Blacks have the right blend of power and finesse for success, but so too did England once, and the key is refinding it.
"I don't think we are talking about reinventing the wheel here. We are talking about going back to how England played in early 2000. We became the best team in the world by playing the most challenging and the most imaginative rugby, under Ashton.
"Hopefully we can go back to that. We need the right structure to do it, we need the guys who can scrummage, we need the front five to get us on the front foot. It is about blending that properly and if you get the right blend then you are a very dangerous team.
"That is why New Zealand is the best team in the world at the moment because they match anyone physically but they also have the right blend and that is what we have to do."
New Zealand are next up for England and it will be the best test yet of whether these fresh hopes are built on any foundation and if Lewsey and his friends can be contenders in less than 12 months time at the World Cup.
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