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‘Getting it right in France’: England duo urge fans to ‘stick with us’
Jamie George and Danny Care have urged fans to “stick with us” as England set their sights on next month’s Rugby World Cup clash with Argentina in Marseille.
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England are eighth on World Rugby’s rankings after losing three of their four Tests in the Summer Nations Series, including an historic defeat to Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.
Fiji overcame a slow start to record a first-ever win over England in seven meetings. It’s a result that will echo throughout history for the Flying Fijians.
Wins have proved hard to come by under coach Steve Borthwick this year. England have only won three of nine matches since Borthwick replaced former boss Eddie Jones in December.
With Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola currently available due to suspension, too, England face a tough task at the World Cup against Pool D rivals Argentina, Japan, Samoa and Chile.
For fans who are still haunted by the horrors and disappointments of the 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign on home soil, there appears to be genuine cause for concern.
But the playing group want to take fans “on a journey with us” in France as they look to hit their stride when it counts.
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“I think it has added importance of us as a team wanting to connect with the fans and also being able to take them on a journey with us,” hooker Jamie George said on O2 Inside the Line: This Rose episode 10.
“We had Gareth Southgate in a few weeks ago who mentioned the importance of that in the England Football journey.
“We’ve seen it a little bit with England Cricket as well in terms of what Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have done.
“We understand the importance of that. We are urging you guys to try and stick with us because we are working incredibly hard and ultimately what we need to be absolutely right for is Argentina in a World Cup, the first game of a World Cup.
A message from @J_George2 & @dannycare 🌹
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“We absolutely understand how frustrating it is, but at the same time feeling and hearing your support, whether you’re in France or whether you’re back home, it means just so much to us.”
England defeated rivals Wales 19-17 at Twickenham earlier this month, but that victory was quickly swept under the rug following two big losses.
Andy Farrell’s Ireland put on an attacking clinic in front of their home fans at the Aviva Stadium as they ran away with a comfortable 29-10 victory. Then, of course, there was the Fiji game a week later.
“I’ve always thought rugby, someone described it as an emotional rollercoaster. You’re up and you’re down the whole time, it’s never plain sailing,” halfback Danny Care added.
“When it’s great, it’s amazing. When it’s bad, you can find yourself in some pretty dark space.
“Believe in what you’re all about, back yourself. You take all sorts of criticism, you take a lot of praise when it’s good but you take an awful lot of criticism when it isn’t quite what’s expected.
“Over the past few weeks, we know that we haven’t hit the straps that we would like to have, but we just know and hope that you guys know that we’re working so hard to try and get it right.
“When I mean get it right, it’s getting it right in France.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments