England centre Mike Tindall must know how much he will miss his centre partner Will Greenwood when his team plays against Samoa on Sunday.
Tindall and Greenwood have become the inseparable Laurel and Hardy of England’s back line, a duo blessed with an uncanny understanding … and they generally make us laugh too.
But after scoring the only try in England’s crucial 25-6 win over South Africa in Perth on Saturday, Greenwood has flown home on compassionate leave to be with his wife Caro. She is currently in hospital suffering pregnancy complications.
The couple lost a child soon after a premature birth a year ago and the England camp has been rocked by the departure of one of its mainstays.
Tindall said: ”What Will did last week, to play after what he had been through, was outstanding. I don’t know what to say really. It’s hard for us to just know about it let alone him having to go back and deal with it.
”Will is captain of the attack. He’s a great thinker, that’s his main strength. The way he reads the game.
”But the other boys wouldn’t be here if they weren’t good enough. Everyone knows what we’re trying to achieve.”
Greenwood is scheduled to return to the England camp on October 28, in time for the final qualifier against minnows Uruguay in Brisbane on November 2.
According to Tindall, Greenwood is the only absentee for Sunday’s game under the roof at the Telstra Dome, though Matt Dawson appeared not to train in the pouring rain at a soggy Scotch College in storm-lashed Melbourne this morning.
Tindall assured us: ”Everyone’s fine in training. Everyone’s available for selection.”
But last week, after naming an unchanged side for the game against South Africa, coach Clive Woodward was forced to withdraw injured scrum half Dawson and veteran flanker Richard Hill on the Friday before the game.
Tindall admits: ”I’m not sure if I’m playing on Sunday, but if I do, I’ll have a new centre partner. But that’s not a problem. We train with each other all the time.”
With the Aussie and Kiwi press slamming England for an unimpressive performance on Saturday, Tindall said: ”I thought we defended very well, but we didn’t attack too well against South Africa. We seemed to lose a bit of rhythm.
”We have to make sure we go into the game against Samoa with more cohesion.
”But one of the things we said before the tournament was that the World Cup is normally won by sides with the best defence. And nobody has scored a try against us yet.”
That aside, Tindall confesses it wasn’t great on Saturday. The South Africans caused serious disruption to what is, statistically, the best side in the world.
He said: ”It wasn’t good. We got a litle bit of a bollocking which was deserved. We went out in the second half and we still made mistakes but we put some phases together.”
The side has now seen a video nasty of their vital Pool C decider and Tindall insists: ”On the tape, they tried not to show all the good things, only the bad! All the times we gave the ball away, all the bad kicks.
”At the moment Samoa are playing some good rugby, they’re throwing the ball around.
”We have to work hard in training. Prepare for Samoa. The work rate has got to go up. We’ve got to get to the ball earlier.
”It’s everyone, backs and forwards. We’re not playing touch rugby, letting the other side have the ball whenever they want to.”
With England under pressure for allegedly bending the rules, Tindall insisted England are whiter than white: ”Referees like refereeing us because we don’t give away many penalties.
”There’s a big difference between trying to steal the ball and just lying across it. For the sake of rugby you want people out of the way so you can play fast ball.”