Read England Saxons captain Will Skinner’s twice weekly Barclays Churchill Cup diary, exclusive to rfu.com
Friday June 20, 2008
I don’t mind admitting that I was holding my breath when the coaches read out the team for Saturday’s final.
I was gutted not to be involved in the last game so I’m really pleased to be back, especially for the final and especially against Scotland A.
Having been involved last year, I know how big this tournament is and what it means to win it.
This is our chance to show what we can do, both as individuals and collectively as a team. Having played the Scots last year we know how physical they’ll be, and in that respect playing against Ireland in the last round was perfect preparation.
Conditions last year were pretty bad so we had to tighten the game up. But the forecasters here are warning there’s a possibility of rain and even thunder storms so we may have to go down that route again.
Having said that though, our aim is to stick to the same pacey and expansive style that we started with and that’s brought us 15 tries in two games.
Although we’ve put in two good performances, we know we still have work to do on our defence. We’ve conceded three tries so far and although having two games together will help, that’s what we’ve been working on most of the week.
Unfortunately Guesty (Tom Guest) picked up a rib injury in the last game so he’s not fit for the weekend. But on the plus side, another of my Quins’ team mates Chris Robshaw is making his first start for Saxons, having come off the bench to great effect in both previous games.
Robbo will bring a huge work rate and a physicality around the pitch that will be really important against the Scots.
The captain’s run today will give us a chance to go through everything one last time. We did most of the work yesterday, having had a much-needed day off on Wednesday.
