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England v New Zealand: Captain Chris Robshaw wants fortress feeling at Twickenham to continue against the Kiwis

The current World Cup holders are out for revenge after losing this fixture a year ago but Robshaw wants to turn home stadium into a place to fear for opposition

Duncan Bech
Monday 11 November 2013 09:24 GMT
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England captain Chris Robshaw wants to turn Twickenham into a fortress ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup
England captain Chris Robshaw wants to turn Twickenham into a fortress ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup (GETTY IMAGES)

Chris Robshaw has urged England to continue transforming Twickenham into a fortress by defeating New Zealand for a second time in less than a year.

The All Blacks enter Saturday's final QBE International intent on avenging last December's rout at Twickenham, a result that began England's current run of nine wins in 10 Tests.

The 2003 World Cup-winning team amassed 22 consecutive home victories dating back to October 1999 and Robshaw insists producing a similar record in the build up to England 2015 is key.

"Of course you want to make a place where the World Cup is predominantly going to be as big a fortress as possible," he said.

"A lot of our memories and beliefs from growing up were based on the 2003 era and seeing what they did.

"You knew everyone who came to Twickenham back then was not going to get the result they wanted.

"Building that record is not something that doesn't happen easily. It's a lot of hard work, but that's the position we want to get to.

"We've got a long way to go but hopefully we can start to create that. And I believe we're getting there.

"The next hurdle is a massive one but that's where we want to be."

England used successive defeats to Australia and South Africa to fuel their performance against New Zealand last year, but Robshaw insists they must generate the same passion despite having beaten Australia and Argentina.

"It's easy to do it when your backs are against the wall. When you've got no pressure on you whatsoever it's different," he said.

"We don't want to put ourselves in that situation to get the performances.

"We spoke about that at the beginning of this autumn campaign, that we can't wait for those situations because as soon as you do you're in a little bit of trouble.

"You've got to make sure you put that pressure on yourselves, on each other, to make sure you're better every time."

PA

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