3 June 2004
World Champions England left today (Wednesday) for a short tour to New Zealand and Australia where they are due to play three test matches.

They face New Zealand twice, in Dunedin, June 12, and Auckland, June 19, before flying on to Australia where they face last Novembers IRB Rugby World Cup Final opponents Australia in Brisbane, June 26.

Although many of last November’s World Cup winning squad have now either retired or are not available through injury head coach Sir Clive Woodward was in buoyant mood on the eve of the tour at the teams training base in Bagshot.

He told journalists at the pre tour press conference: "We are not going there to get marks out of 10, it's a serious business we're there to win.

"We've been a little bit off the pace recently and we've got to learn from that and we've got to improve significantly on our performances against Ireland and France."

When asked if the tour was a match too far for some players, especially those in the London Wasps and Bath line-ups who have only just completed their season with a gruelling Zurich Championship Final at Twickenham, he said: "It's no different than a year ago, your championship players relish it. I don't think it takes a lot of talking about we just want to go down there and win."

He also added that it was an excellent opportunity for a lot of the up and coming players to stake their claim for a regular place in the team in future.

"If they can front up in Dunedin and Auckland it's a great opportunity for them," he said.

"We're the number one team in the world and we hold the World Cup and we don't want to go down there and get beaten.

"It's a short, very intense trip and we're determined to do well."