KEY POINTS:
Martin Corry is used to putting his body on the line for club and country - now it would appear he is prepared to put his neck on the block.
In many people's eyes, including New Zealand's, England start as the underdogs in the opening test against the All Blacks at Twickenham on Monday, but yesterday captain Corry insisted: "We are going out there to win.
"That is what we intend to do. This is England playing in front of a packed house at Twickenham. We don't just want to play for England, we want to play for a winning England."
And what is more Corry, who starts on the blindside flank but intimated that he could switch roles with No 8 Pat Sanderson at certain points in the match, reckons the public share the players' view. "The public expectation should be for an English victory."
The Twickenham crowd, labelled arrogant by the All Blacks' hooker Anton Oliver during the week, certainly have Corry's backing.
"That is not the English crowd I know," said Corry. "I hope there will be 82,000 people at Twickenham desperate to prove him wrong.
"New Zealand are the best in the world. We know it is going to take a very special effort for us to win because we are playing a very good side. But they are where we want to be and to get there we need to play against the best."
This will be his 11th match in charge. His record currently reads: won six, lost four, with the last three of those defeats coming in last season's Six Nations tournament.
Corry had wanted to go to Australia for the two-test series last summer, but the England management ordered him to stay at home to rest his battered body.
Of course that threw into question his role as captain, a position he described yesterday as "the biggest honour that can be given to an England rugby player".
There was no guarantee of it being a shoo-in.
"Nothing was set in stone. Especially after I didn't go on tour to Australia. I had to start the season and show some form, play well for Leicester.
"That was the most important thing for me to do, then hopefully I would win back my place in the England set-up.
"And that is exactly how I would choose to have it. I wouldn't want any long-term promises given to me, you've got to keep proving you are worthy of your place, especially with the amount of competition that we now have in this England squad."
The full record
New Zealand's record against England
* Played: 28
* Won: 21
* Lost: 6
* Drawn: 1
* Points for 611, against 344
* Biggest winning margin: 64-22 (Dunedin, 1998)
* Biggest losing margin: 13-0 (London, 1936)
Last five tests
* 2005 in London
New Zealand 23 England 19
* 2004 in Auckland
New Zealand 36 England 12
* 2004 in Dunedin
New Zealand 36 England 3
* 2003 in Wellington
England 15 New Zealand 13
* 2002 in London
England 31 New Zealand 28
- INDEPENDENT
