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Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick says England may be sending the oldest squad in World Cup history off to France next month, but the players are no longer a bunch of fatties.
Fitzpatrick, the hooker in New Zealand's only winning-Cup side (1987) and captain of the last
All Blacks team to reach the final (1995), has changed his view of the England team as having "too many fatties", London's Evening Standard newspaper reported.
Fitzpatrick, whose 92 caps puts him at the top of the all-time All Blacks' list, told the newspaper:
"Do not be fooled by their age."
Mike Catt will be into his 37th year, Lawrence Dallaglio and Mark Regan are already into their 36th and Perry Freshwater and Simon Shaw into their 35th.
The English squad pitching camp at Versailles in three weeks for their Cup defence will be marginally older than the one that won it four years ago - an average age of almost 30 compared with 29-1/2 the last time.
"I don't see age as a problem. From where England were six months ago, this is a pretty good-looking team to me," Fitzpatrick said.
"Last year some players seemed to be turning up and taking their positions for granted. They weren't up to the challenge. I'm not mentioning names but since then some have been left out or they have retired.
"A lot of criticism was heaped on Andy Robinson as coach when I felt some players should have been saying - `We're not fit. We're not doing what we are supposed to be doing'. The game moves on very rapidly and that has since been taken on board."
"The older guys like Catt, Dallaglio and Shaw are the ones who will be setting the standard. Admittedly, Wales weren't much of a yardstick at Twickenham the other week but that's the best I've seen of Dallaglio in ages.
"What they have to decide is where he is better - coming off the bench or starting. Keven Mealamu is the All Blacks' best hooker but they use him off the bench because he is a better impact player than Anton Oliver. If it was down to me, I'd have Dallaglio in the team from the start because he has such influence.
"The nice thing for England is that they've been written off," Fitzpatrick said.
"They won't have the pressure of expectation."
"I believe they can get to the semifinals and once you get that far, anything can happen."
"The two best defensive teams in the world, New Zealand and Australia in the Tri-Nations last month, almost came down to who had the better goalkicker. And that will happen again in the World Cup because usually the best defensive team wins the tournament."
"I hope it doesn't happen again this time but I won't be surprised if it does."
Meanwhile, coach Brian Ashton gave Andy Farrell and Dan Hipkiss the chance to establish themselves as England's first-choice centres when he named them in his side to play France in Marseille on Sunday (NZ time).
Rugby league convert Farrell will provide the beef while Hipkiss, who made his debut in the record victory over Wales two weeks ago, will be asked to find the cutting edge so long missing from England's midfield.
Ashton said last week that he planned to name his strongest team for Sunday's game but, partly because of the one-sided nature of the record win over Wales, has decided to use the final warmup as a chance to have another look at his options.
Hooker George Chuter, lock Steve Borthwick and No 8 Nick Easter also have another chance to impress the coach, as does loosehead prop Perry Freshwater, chosen in place of Andrew Sheridan, who was ruled out by an infected insect bite that required intravenous antibiotics.
Easter, who scored four tries against Wales, Tom Rees, and Martin Corry were chosen from a competitive back-row field with former captain Lawrence Dallaglio on the bench.
Mark Cueto starts at fullback with Josh Lewsey and Jason Robinson on the wings. Jonny Wilkinson is first five-eighth with Shaun Perry getting the nod at halfback.
ENGLAND
Mark Cueto, Josh Lewsey, Dan Hipkiss, Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson, Jonny Wilkinson, Shaun Perry, Nick Easter, Tom Rees, Martin Corry, Steve Borthwick, Simon Shaw, Phil Vickery (captain), George Chuter, Perry Freshwater.
Reserves: Lee Mears, Matt Stevens, Joe Worsley, Lawrence Dallaglio, Andy Gomarsall, Olly Barkley, Paul Sackey
- NZPA, REUTERS