Heaven and hell for Lewsey

Josh Lewsey erased memories of England’s darkest day as the Six Nations champions cruised towards a World Cup quarter-final showdown with Wales next Sunday.

Lewsey’s record-equalling five try exhibition in the 111-13 rout of Uruguay, came five years after England lost 76-0 at the same Suncorp Stadium venue to Australia.

Wasps full-back Lewsey, then just 21, was an England squad member on that so-called ‘Tour from Hell’, when the absence of numerous top-flight players took a heavy toll.

“If you are English, then you hurt that night,” said Lewsey. “It has been a long road from there, but in adversity and difficult situations, you learn more.

“Clive (Woodward) and the players learned a lot from it, and it has taken a few years to come to fruition and now it has started to bear fruit.”

Lewsey’s performance equalled the England try-scoring record of five tries, jointly shared by Rory Underwood against Fiji in 1989 and Dan Lambert against France 96 years ago.

Leicester flier Underwood, top of the England try charts with 49 tries in 85 internationals, performed the feat in the 58-23 win against Fiji at Twickenham.

Harlequins wing Lambert did it on his debut in a 41-13 win against France at Richmond – the first international between the countries.

“Yes you do dream about it – it’s the stuff boyhood dreams are made of,” Lewsey added. “Rory Underwood is an absolute legend, and it is very nice to be mentioned alongside him.

“I was not aware of the record until afterwards. It is always nice to score, and I didn’t manage it against Georgia.”

England shattered another record against Uruguay. The victory was their best-ever World Cup performance in terms of points scored and margin of victory, surpassing the 101-10 win against Tonga four years ago.

“The way the back-three plays is indicative of how the team plays,” Lewsey added. “The guys up front win the ball, and the guys in midfield give us the time and space.

“If the guys give you the ball on the front foot it helps, and Mike Catt and Stuart Abbott were superb. Iain Balshaw looked very sharp – he has always been a world-class player.

“As a team we were fully aware that we needed a decisive performance to go into the quarter-finals with confidence. It is great to score tries but I am fully aware that Uruguay are not Wales or New Zealand.

“We had two objectives. We came here to enjoy ourselves, and we came here to play the way we know we can play after being slightly below par. The majority of the game I think we did that.”

Joe Worsley, meanwhile, has apologised for applauding English fans after he had been sin-binned for a high tackle on Uruguay wing Joaquin Pastore.

Wasps forward Worsley was given an ovation by English fans as he walked off, and he returned their cheers by applauding them, even though Pastore was still down receiving treatment from the Uruguayan medical team.

The episode angered England head coach Woodward, who said: “I have had some very serious words with Joe Worsley – I think he made a bad error. It was not the appropriate thing to do.

“I was not happy at all with what he did. I think he is made a big mistake. People were clapping him off, and it was not the right thing for him to do, especially considering one of their players was still down.”

Worsley added: “My gesture of applauding the crowd was a misplaced one, and an error of judgement.

“I would like to unreservedly apologise to the Uruguay squad and fans, and wish them every success in the future.”

The Worsley episode ended a week when England were fined £10,000 (€14,000) and fitness adviser Dave Reddin received a two-match touchline ban following the Dan Luger 16th-man episode against Samoa in Melbourne.

News elsewhere was much better, with ankle injury victim Balshaw not thought to be seriously hurt, despite being stretchered off.

Lewsey apart, there were also touchdowns for Balshaw (2), scrum-half Andy Gomarsall (2), Balshaw’s replacement Jason Robinson (2), Catt (2), Abbott, flanker Lewis Moody, wing Dan Luger and centre Will Greenwood.

Fly-half Paul Grayson played his part with 11 conversions, and Catt added the extra points to two tries.

Prop Uruguay Pablo Lemoine grabbed a consolation score for Los Teros, yet it was their worst-ever Test defeat, surpassing a 70-0 loss to Argentina in 1977.