“We just have to beat big guns this autumn” – Chris Robshaw

Bullish England skipper Chris Robshaw is targeting a perfect international season as the countdown to the 2015 World Cup begins in earnest.
Stuart Lancaster‘s squad gather in Loughborough this week for a short training camp to pick over their 3-0 summer tour loss to New Zealand.
England’s failure to take chances cost them dear and Robshaw’s top priority ahead of a tough autumn series will be his side’s finishing.
Robshaw, who wants an autumn series and Six Nations clean sweep, told The Rugby Paper: “What we learned in June was how clinical New Zealand are.
“We created as many chances as them but if you look at how many they converted, they were very effective with their try-scoring opportunities.
“It’s a step in the right direction to put yourself in the right positions, but it’s taking them that counts and New Zealand did that more often.
“If you look at Conrad Smith’s winning try in the first Test, it was the experience of the guy to exploit the space and that’s got to be our next step. But I believe that’s moving in the right direction and in the autumn we’ll just about be there.
“The good thing about this England squad is that every time we meet up we seem to be a bit better than we previously were and we’ve got three big campaigns ahead of us now, with the World Cup being the big one at the end of the tunnel.
“The aim this autumn has to be to win all four Tests against New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia and when we go on to that Twickenham pitch in an England shirt, people must come expecting us to win and that’s what we must deliver.
“Then there’s the Six Nations and we must look for a Grand Slam. As an English side we’ve finished second in the last three years and that’s been very frustrating, so we just want to take that final hurdle and the guys are gunning for that.”
Robshaw’s fighting talk may seem fanciful given that England were comprehensively defeated by New Zealand in their third and final Test in Hamilton and have failed to beat South Africa in 12 attempts since November, 2006. But the Harlequins flanker believes a clean sweep of autumn victories is non-negotiable if England are to be considered serious World Cup contenders – and he bases his confidence on the Twickenham factor proving decisive.
“To host a World Cup and for us to be serious contenders in our own event, that’s the sort of marker we need to put down,” Robshaw said.
“I think we’re on target to do that. Of course it was frustrating not to get a result in New Zealand but not many teams go there and run them close in two Tests and I think we’re closing the gap; we just need to cut out the lapses and finish tries.
“As for South Africa, they’ve been playing very well and a lot of our guys will be watching the Rugby Championship to see how they develop. They had some great performances against Wales in June and look a very formidable outfit.
“But they’re coming to Twickenham and we need to make sure during the autumn that we not only match their intensity, but better it and then be able to lift our game at key points. It’s one thing having the physicality, you need accuracy as well.
“But we can take what happened at the Olympics as inspiration, where you get that extra lift, and we have to give the crowd and the public knowledge that when they come to Twickenham they can have that expectancy we can beat anybody.
“We still need to get there by beating South Africa, New Zealand and the likes, but we need to show what we’re about and that we’re ready for it.”
Robshaw, meanwhile, is preparing for the new season at Harlequins and believes all England’s potential World Cup men will aim for a fast start.
He said: “It’s really exciting. People have been speaking about this season for the last three years and it’s no different for the players.
“You’ve got to make sure you’re coming into form, you are playing well at the right time and that your fitness is right up there. More importantly, though, it’s about maintaining your sharpness throughout the whole year.
“Conor O’Shea’s good at looking after players at Quins and if you do need a couple of days off here and there, you get them. I expect a lot of clubs will look after their players at the right stage of the season and you hope everyone stays fit.”
Robshaw faces a challenge for his place from clubmate Luke Wallace and welcomes the additional competition he is likely to face from around the Premiership through the likes of Gloucester’s Matt Kvesic and Will Fraser, of Saracens.
“You need that competition,” he said. “Guys who are after your place want to prove they are the quickest, fittest and strongest and they tend to be pretty fierce. They get out and train hard and are desperate to impress.
“But you’ve just got to show what you’re about as a senior player, train hard and, most importantly, when you get the opportunity to excel you’ve got to get yourself out there and do it.”
Quins ended last season trophy-less after leaving themselves too much to do, Robshaw adding: “The last six or seven weeks it was like a cup final every week and it took a lot out of the players to be able to lift ourselves that much all the time.
“We made the top four and want to do so again, but first and foremost you want to ensure your Premiership campaign gets off to a flyer.
“Last year we started slowly and ended up playing catch-up, so this season we want to hit the ground running and give ourselves a better chance of silverware.”
NEALE HARVEY