Quote:

Mehrtens
Toby Flood is the right man to lead England's attacking charge at the World Cup

“When England want to kick-start their game, Toby is the man to have at No 10,” Mehrtens said. “Not only does he throw a great pass out, but he is always looking for gaps himself, which creates space around him for guys to run off.

“I know it was tough for him in Dublin, when the Irish were flying up so quickly in defence. But whether it was the case of the No 10 not firing, or whether the performance of the whole England team didn’t allow him to fire, I don’t know.

“Everyone has good days and bad days and when you are playing fly-half it is more conspicuous. I think he did all right.”

“Watching the autumn internationals, I was really impressed with the volume of play that all the British teams were willing to throw at the southern hemisphere,” he said.

“It’s up to the southern hemisphere to adapt a lot better than they have recently. In past World Cups, the All Blacks haven’t always shown the capacity to adapt their game when it needs a change.

“One advantage of playing in the northern hemisphere is that you have a long season and you learn to play in different weather conditions and against different teams.

"In France, for instance, you play one week against Toulouse who are throwing the ball around, and the next against Bourgoin who are trying to shut the game down.

“Every World Cup is better than the last and I think this one will be the best of all in terms of the quality and evenness of the teams. There won’t be any foregone conclusions once you get past the first few pool games.”