Here's to you Mr Robinson, says old boy Ben

The towering Liverpudlian, who won his gold medal as Martin Johnson's junior partner in the second row four years ago, admits he would never have made it without Ian Robinson, his first mentor, who lost his life during a white-water rafting accident in northern Queensland four weeks ago at the age of 47.

Kay responded to the tragedy in suitable fashion against France at Twickenham, securing a World Cup place as reward for one of his best internationals.

Coincidence? 'I'm not a psychologist so I don't know but I certainly thought of him a lot in the build-up to that match and when I was standing there for the anthems,' he said. 'Maybe it did gee me up that extra bit. The news of his death came as a terrible shock. I shall forever remember Mr Robinson for the smile on his face and the fun he brought to the game.'

Kay has played himself into the starting team for the opening defence of the trophy against the USA in Lens on Saturday week, a tie which brings the Americans back for their first international on French soil since beating, or, more accurately, beating up the hosts in the 1924 Olympic final, a match considered so violent by the IOC that they banned rugby from every subsequent Games.

Still among England's younger forwards at 31, Kay is within striking distance of becoming the first old boy from Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby to be capped 50 times for his country.

He said: 'We can ill afford to lose people like Ian Robinson, especially in this country. I'm a great believer in the way the Australians do it, giving it everything but enjoying yourself at the same time. I don't know what it is but there seems to be something different within our sporting culture. We have an element of what you could call the nasty coaches, rather than the coaches who want you to have a good time. Ian Robinson was one of the good guys who believed you got the best out of people through their enjoyment of what they were doing.

'Ian Robinson was the model sports teacher. He always had a smile on his face and that reflected his love of the game. I was lucky to have that ingrained in me from the age of seven and lucky that he encouraged us to play as many other sports as possible so we could learn different skills which would make us better rugby players.

'He was the coach who I had over the longest period, from seven in the prep school until I left at 18. I started off at full back, went to fly half, then No 8 and, in the last couple of years, into the second row.

'After the last World Cup, I got the impression that he was thrilled that one of the lads on whom he had such a big influence had helped achieve that victory. For me that was one of the most satisfying aspects about winning it, knowing that people who helped get you there derived such immense pleasure from it. He certainly had the biggest effect on me and it goes without saying that I wouldn't have got where I am now without him.'

Kay flies to France with England on Monday as one of their front-line forwards. 'There were times when I thought I wouldn't make it,' he said. 'For me it was a case of re-discovering the sense of enjoyment, not easy when things aren't going that great but well worth persevering with.'

Martin Corry, injured against France almost a fortnight ago, was still unable to train when England went back to work yesterday after a 10-day break. The knee injury which forced him to miss the closing minutes of the defeat in Marseille had been shrugged off at the time as 'nothing to worry about' but is taking longer to recover from than expected.

While the Leicester captain sweats over his place against America on Saturday week, scrum half Peter Richards finally banished fears of missing the tournament after recovering from a back problem that had prevented him taking any part in the three warm-up matches.