A Do or die battle

Dunedin: A Romanian team showing a multitude of changes from the side that opened the tournament so impressively against Scotland will hardly strike fear into England's players as they contemplate today's match at the Otago Stadium. If not the so-called Mighty Oaks of Romania, then the hulking, brooding figure of Martin Johnson will.

He is a man not given to venting his spleen but he did in the aftermath of last weekend's patchy, ill-disciplined performance against Georgia.

Fear stalks the mind of England, who field their first XV barring those sidelined through injury and suspension.

That edginess needs to be a positive sort of emotion, for England know only too well that if they do not achieve much higher standards of play then outgoing Passport Control at Auckland airport beckons, as does another Johnson rollicking.

"We've got to be as good as we can in every regard," said Johnson, who gives wing Mark Cueto his first start here.

"If we get it wrong, we'll be at home watching the latter stages."

England made all the right noises about the Romanian challenge but this game is about them, about playing with fluidity and ferocity, about showing that they can be better than the flat-footed, feckless lot who made such hard work of beating Georgia.

Transgression

Any repeat of "getting your hand caught in the cookie jar", as Johnson put it when attempting to rationalise why top-class players transgress so idiotically, and England would have no chance of progressing through the knockout stages to the final as they have done in the last two tournaments.

Temptation has proved beyond them, the enticing prospect of pulling a fast one on the referee too difficult to resist. England are the most ill-disciplined team in the tournament with two yellow cards in two matches, 26 penalties conceded and one player, Courtney Lawes, suspended for kneeing Pumas hooker Mario Ledesma.

Lack of penetration

"It's not that scientific about what's going wrong," said Johnson. "It's — obvious."

That is but one element of England's game that is well below par. So too is the shape of their attack, their lack of penetration, their rashness and their failure to hold on to the ball.

Maybe now that Johnson has declared his hand for this match, some of that fretfulness will recede.

England have been too anxious, and that has shown in their ill-advised offloads that simply go to the opposition.

These now are the chosen ones, and if they deliver against Romania then they will progress to face Scotland in their final game of Pool B next week in Auckland. And from there, anything is possible.

Will this game be any sort of a true test for England now that Romania have taken the sensible decision to rest their frontline troops for what they consider to be their own World Cup final against Georgia on Wednesday?

Turnarounds

Given that the International Rugby Board has stuffed so many tier-two nations with four-day turnarounds, they have been hoist with their own petard.

Romania have made 11 changes to the side who lost 43-8 to Argentina in Invercargill, leaving out front-row warriors, such as hooker and captain Marius Tincu, Paulica Ion and Mihaita Lazar. The sides last met in 2001, England winning 134-0.

Much has changed in what was then the near bankrupt state of Romanian rugby but England ought to bolster their points difference column with a victory.

Johnson will be looking for clinical precision in all that England do. They need to be sharp and decisive at the breakdown, and crisp as well as potent in attack. Sometimes these matches can disintegrate into scrappy affairs as players go glory-hunting.

Johnson would not be a happy bunny if that were to happen. "We've got to understand what the game is about," said the England manager.

Injury concerns

"A lot of errors last week were self-inflicted. We need to be smarter, to feel the game better. It's a balance between pointing out errors and letting players do their thing. We will attack space but we can't give those penalties away." England have injury concerns.

Prop Matt Stevens sits out although the ankle he turned against Georgia is on the mend.

Alex Corbisiero gets his first start on the loosehead with tighthead Dan Cole on duty for the third match. More troubling is the back injury afflicting No 8 Nick Easter.

England need to make sure, too, that their pride does not end up on the injury list. Johnson's beedy eye will be watching closely.