BEPPU, 15 Oct - Elliot Daly has dismissed fears England will be undercooked for their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia in Oita on Saturday after their final pool match with France was cancelled because of Typhoon Hagibis.

England headed to Miyazaki to avoid the bad weather before returning north to Oita Prefecture. Their first training session in Beppu on Tuesday highlighted how charged up the players are for the last-eight clash.

"There is a lot of energy on the training pitch," said Daly. "We had to rein it back a bit today because the boys were getting a bit too excited. That is the overarching theme for everybody and we are excited to see where we can take this and, hopefully, get the victory on Saturday."

Daly was not selected for RWC 2015, where England were beaten in their pool by Australia and Wales to become the first host nation to fail to reach the knockout stages.

That is why the Saracens full-back is eager to show coach Eddie Jones he is ready to play his part in helping England gain revenge.

However, Daly recognises that his defensive role will be crucial as Australia have a dangerous team, with backs capable of running in tries from long distance.

While the Wallabies prefer to keep the ball in hand rather than repeatedly kick for position, Daly is wary of their ability to expose the opposition with clever cross-kicks.

"Over the last couple of years they have really expanded their attacking game and play both sides of the ruck, especially as all their 10s and 15s like to get their hands on the ball," said Daly.

"They have quite a varied kicking game, with quite a lot of cross-kicks off fly-half. They have wingers who are good in the air. That will pose a different threat.

 

"Hopefully, if we concentrate on our defence, then we can force some bad kicks and get kick-return off that. We want to put pressure on them and you try to do that in every game, to force mistakes and errors and hopefully off the back of that, try and get some points on the board.

"I don't think we will attack any differently. It’s how we would attack any game, especially a quarter-final."

While the debate continues about who will wear the No.9 and No.10 jerseys for Australia against England, centre Jonathan Joseph expects the outstanding Samu Kerevi to fill the inside-centre role, with James O’Connor set to continue at No.13. Kerevi has been a key figure in the Wallabies' attack, getting them over the gain line quickly with his robust ball carrying.

"Kerevi is a fantastic player. I have seen him develop and get better and better over the past few years," said Joseph. "He is such a threat with ball in hand and we have seen that in this World Cup.

"He loves his offloading game and is destructive when he gets his hands on the ball."

RNS cj/sg/ar/bo/sw