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Armitage vows to hit back

Tuesday 18th November 2008

Frustrated: Armitage to hit the ground running against the Springboks

Delon Armitage vowed England will hit back with a vengeance against South Africa this weekend after suffering the ultimate kick in the teeth - a home defeat by the old enemy Australia.

England went down 28-14 at Twickenham after being punished for their inexperience and ill-discipline by the ruthless Wallabies.

Armitage is set to win his third cap against the Springboks and believes the frustration of Saturday's setback will be fuel for England's fire.

"Letting such a massive opportunity to beat Australia at Twickenham go is about as galling as it gets. To lose at home in an England shirt, I don't think it gets any lower than that," said Armitage.

"But our self-belief has not been knocked. We'll cry it off and then get back on with the job of working to beat the reigning world champions."

The most frustrating thing for Armitage, as an outside back who had little opportunity to show his quality in attack, was England failed to take their chances against Australia.

Danny Cipriani made two searing breaks but too often England's inexperience showed in attack as they veered away from the gameplan set out by new attack coach Brian Smith.

That ill-discipline in attack was compounded by a careless defensive performance, with "needless penalties" conceded, which allowed Australia to control the match despite having only 41 per cent of possession.

"We did make the chances, we did make the breaks but we just weren't clinical enough," said Armitage.

"At this level, if you let chances slip through your fingers, you will always be punished, there's nothing more to it than that.

"We were breaking the line a lot, and that's a big plus.

"We need to be careful with a few things next week but hopefully we'll turn it round.

"We gave away 12 points before we had even touched the ball probably, and that's far too much.

"We butchered quite a few chances, wasted a few mis-matches and we were nowhere near clinical enough.

"At this level, that has to be improved, and we've got a week to do it."

Manager Martin Johnson's manner immediately after the match suggested changes might be in the offing when he names the England team on Tuesday.

Johnson complained about England going off-message in attack, which appeared to be an implicit criticism of inexperienced 21-year-old half-backs Cipriani and Danny Care.

There will be major concerns in the scrum, where Australia turned the tables from their destruction in last year's World Cup quarter-final to win two balls against the head and force England to concede two vital penalties.

South Africa, despite their problem with motivation and injury, will not be any easier to cope with up front and Johnson may look to the likes of Simon Shaw, James Haskell and Matt Stevens, who all made a significant impact off the bench last weekend.

England need a victory to boost their chances of finishing November in the top four of the world rankings - which is vital if Johnson's men are to guarantee avoiding Australia, New Zealand and the Springboks in the group stages of the 2011 World Cup.

The draw is made in London on December 1 and England's defeat by the Wallabies allowed Argentina to regain fourth place with a 22-14 victory over Italy at the weekend.

England have the chance to make amends against the Springboks and All Blacks over the next two weekends.

But they will also be looking for Ireland to do them a favour by beating Argentina this weekend. And Declan Kidney's men have everything to play for.

If Argentina win in Dublin and Scotland beat Canada, then Ireland will fall to ninth in the rankings and a place in the third tier of the World Cup draw.