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Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick has mocked England's World Cup rugby chances, saying their players are too fat.
"You won't win anything with a bunch of fatties," the Sun newspaper in London reported.
Fitzpatrick, capped 92 times for New Zealand, said England coach Brian Ashton needed to get his team into shape quickly.
"Ashton has got a game plan that will suit England," he said.
"But the players need to start putting in the work.
"It's great playing an expansive game but you can't afford to have any fatties there.
"Look at the All Blacks, they actually look like athletes."
England needed to stop talking about being world champion and start acting like it to have any hope of defending its crown in September, he said.
"Maybe in England they've enjoyed talking about being world champions for too long and have been going backwards in the process."
World rugby needed England to be strong, he said.
"They've got the biggest player base in the world and they need to go back to basics.
"A lot of it is down to the players and a few guys have really let themselves down".
- NZPA
