Dubai: Southern hemisphere teams will be wary of England after their performance at the Six Nations, according to Red Roses legend Mike Tindall.
This autumn’s World Cup hosts finished second to Ireland by just a try in one of the most closely fought Six Nations contests in recent history last month.
But far from a missed opportunity, Tindall is billing the shortfall as a statement of intent from England ahead of the World Cup from September 18 to October 31.
Asked if the Six Nations loss would help spark a reaction, Tindall, 36, who was in Dubai playing in the Icons Cup all-star golf tournament at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club on Friday, replied: “I don’t think we needed a wake-up call, we played the best rugby out of the teams there.
“We played consistently and against Italy we put nearly 50 points on them [47-17]. They’re still going away a bit disappointed that they left a lot out there, it was the same against Scotland [25-13], but I think they’re in a place now where they know where they are, and where they want to be.”
Of southern hemisphere teams taking notice of England’s resurgence, the 2003 World Cup winning centre who scored 74 points in 75 appearances for England from 2000 to 2011, added: “I think they’ve known it’s been coming a little while. “I’ve heard from friends down there that they respected England a lot more than they ever had when they [England] went down there [New Zealand] last year in the summer.
“Even though they [England] lost three Tests [20-15, 28-27, 36-13], they played quality rugby against a quality New Zealand team who are just so consistent at the moment.
“I think South Africa and Australia will be very wary of Ireland as well as England and with what Wales can do as well. From what I hear the last weekend of the Six Nations was quite popular down there, so hopefully it’s going to make for a cracking World Cup.”
So what are England’s chances of reclaiming the Webb Ellis trophy on home soil? “I think they’ve got a really good chance,” he added. “They’re in a really strong position and the squad has only got stronger through people’s misfortune with injuries. That’s presented opportunities to a lot of different guys and they’ve taken them.
“I think they’ve got to have good warm up games and a camp but there’s no reason why they can’t go there confident, and feel that they can go a long way in the competition.”
Having not lost at Twickenham since a narrow test match defeat against South Africa 31-28 in November, Tindall added that the Englishmen had made their home a castle ahead of the World Cup.
“I think it [Twickenham] is coming back to its heyday, when England are playing well and winning there it does become a hard place to play and it becomes a place that’s not easy to go out and perform in, and hopefully it will keep going that way.”
Tindall, who is married to Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest granddaughter Zara Philips, the daughter of Princess Anne, was famously kicked out of the England team after getting caught on CCTV flirting with another woman and throwing a dwarf during the last World Cup in New Zealand in 2011, before the Red Roses were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
But when asked if England felt they would have something to prove after the disgrace and disappointment of four years ago, he cleverly sidestepped the enquiry.
“The last time they got knocked out in the quarter-finals in 1999 they went out and won in 2003, so maybe they will just look at it that way. Maybe it’s an omen for them.”
