FITZPATRICK SAYS ENGLAND NO LONGER PLAGUED BY TOO MANY FATTIES

15th August 2007

Wellington, Aug 14 NZPA - 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."

Source: NZPA Wgtn Credit: NZPA