Ashton: Vickery speech lifted squad

Brian Ashton revealed a passionate speech from captain Phil Vickery fired England to a 14-9 victory over France and into the World Cup final.

No side has successfully defended the World Cup but head coach Ashton is confident England will become the first.

And Ashton describes Vickery as his “ideal” captain as England prepare for their tilt at history in Paris next weekend.

“Phil is by nature a fairly quietly-spoken person but for a prop forward he thinks pretty deeply about what he is going to say and always comes up with the right thing,” said Ashton.

“He made a very moving speech to the team on Friday at seven o’clock.

“It was about what it meant to him and what it should mean to everyone in the room about playing in a World Cup semi-final and beating France on their home ground.

“I can only assume with the performance that it had some sort of effect.

“From the way I deal as a coach with the team, he is my ideal sort of captain.

“I can’t imagine this group of players would ever be satisfied just by getting to the final.

“They have come so far on a very difficult journey during the World Cup. They want to create history.

“If you had asked me the question five weeks ago – are you going to get to the World Cup final? – I would have had to think deep and hard before I said yes.

“Now they are in the position they are in, it wouldn’t surprise me if they completed the job.”

When England were thumped 36-0 by South Africa in the pool stages they had slipped to 50-1 outsiders and were being labelled the worst-ever defending champions.

Since that day, Jonny Wilkinson has returned to the side at fly-half and formed an effective combination with Mike Catt while the likes of Simon Shaw and Andrew Sheridan have been inspirational up front.

“That South Africa match came at the right time. It gave us a massive wake-up call and so far, that was the defining moment of the tournament for me,” said Ashton.

“Since then we have won four games on the bounce and hopefully we will make it five next week.”

Ashton takes none of the credit for England’s transformation. He trusts his men implicitly and when the semi-final reached its climax on Saturday night, with England trailing by one point, he knew France could not match them.

And sure enough, England did not panic. They worked the territory and presented Wilkinson with the chance to land a penalty and a drop-goal in the last six minutes to win the game.

“We’ve got the players who know how to win a game,” said Ashton.

“We have got the armoury within the side to get us in positions where we know we can win it. I think that was the big advantage we had over the French team.

“This squad was specifically selected to defend the World Cup and that is exactly what they are doing.

“I give the responsibility to players. When they go on the pitch it is their game.”