Crush Samoa or face ultimate shame

Samoa are still hurting after their 19-15 defeat to arch-rivals Tonga.

These proud rugby warriors know they have let an entire nation down and given bragging rights to their island neighbours.

England, meanwhile, are desperate to avoid the embarrassment of becoming the first defending champions in the tournament's 20-year history to go home before the quarter-finals.

Brian Ashton's side were cruelly exposed in the 36-0 defeat to South Africa seven days ago and the bad news for them is that their one attacking success from that match, Jason Robinson, is sidelined by a hamstring injury.

When the 2003 World Cup winner and former captain was asked what his teammates needed to achieve in his absence, he replied: "Produce the performance that's been waiting to come out."

Knowing the follow- up questions that were about to be fired his way, Robinson burst out laughing and admitted: "There is a performance in there - I am just sick of saying it."

The list of those also sick of being told England are about to come good includes the thousands of fans who have turned up in Lens and Paris to witness a desperately poor 28-10 win over the United States and that hammering by the Springboks.

England captain Martin Corry is an open and honest man and even he has struggled to find something positive to offer those visiting the ailing English patient in France.

He admitted: "We know we haven't produced the goods and we have got to do it against the Samoans.

"We've spoken very well and trained very well. What we haven't been doing is playing very well. We've got to start addressing that balance."

England can take some comfort from the injury woes bedevilling the Samoans, who cannot choose eight of their original Cup squad.

Given the mental state of both teams, an early mistake in the match could have a cascade effect, destroying fragile confidence and settling the result right from the start of what should be a fascinating contest.

England have the experience to deal with the physical threat posed by the hardest tackling team in rugby and can take solace from the return of Jonny Wilkinson at fly-half, along with Olly Barkley at inside centre.

England have discarded 36-year-old Mike Catt and 32-year-old Andy Farrell after the Springbok debacle that saw them fail to score for the first time in nine years and opted instead for youth in the form of Barkley, 25, and 21-year-old Mathew Tait.

If this formation fails to score any tries then England may as well rip up their attacking game plan and just ask Wilkinson to produce his trademark drop goals.

Wilkinson is playing his first World Cup match since he fired over the drop goal that clinched the trophy in Sydney four years ago.

Since then, the injury-jinxed Newcastle No10 has featured in just seven of England's 42 Test matches, with an ankle problem suffered in training ruling him out of the opening two games of this tournament.

Now firmly back in the fold, Wilkinson claims he is focused on getting England back on track.

He said: "The biggest thing is that we've not shown ourselves to be dangerous enough to really mount enough attacks to challenge the scoreboard, that's been the most disappointing aspect."

The truth is, though, that failure is just one of many disappointing aspects of this campaign.

After all, England have chosen three different full-backs in as many matches, ignored Lawrence Dallaglio for the two games he is best suited to and operated a revolving door policy with their midfield backs.

Despite those mistakes and the performances so far, I feel England, with their redesigned back division, will finally produce the display we have heard so much about and keep alive their hopes of a last-eight place.