Carling talks of tactical defeat

Will Carling yesterday floated the preposterous idea of his England side trying to finish second in their World Cup group in order to avoid whichever of Australia or South Africa do not take their fancy in the quarter-finals, writes Steve Bale.

The odds are stacked against England because of their unfavourable draw and it seems they are destined to keep whingeing about it right up to the tournament.

However abysmal the decisions of the tournament organisers, notably about where England have to stay in Durban and the requirement for all the quarter- finalists to move to Johannesburg after the pool matches no matter where they will be playing their matches, their captain is giving off too many negative vibrations for his team's good.

England's attitude when they play Argentina, Italy and Western Samoa will, so Carling says, be dictated by the outcome of the World Cup's opening match between Australia and South Africa, with the winners likely to play the runners-up in Pool B and the losers playing the Pool B winners.

"It might well be a consideration not to try too hard in one of our pool matches," Carling said. "It would be nave to say that it wouldn't be considered. Obviously our strategy depends on the outcome of the first game. I'm not saying which one we'd prefer, but slacking off in a Test match would be considered."

The England captain has an entirely reasonable point about the draw but at this stage such talk is not only ludicrous but dangerous. "We feel aggrieved that we meet either the No 1 seeds, Australia, or South Africa in the quarter-finals," he said.

"South Africa are technically seeded ninth but everybody knows their realistic seeding is about third or fourth if not higher. They're seeded that low only because they didn't come in the first eight in 1991 when they weren't yet back in Test rugby."