Cueto Optimistic
England international player, Mark Cueto, says he is very optimistic for the future of international rugby following the victories at the back end of the Southern Hemisphere tour. England beat the Australian Barbarians in a warm-up match before winning a single-point victory over the Australian national squad, the Wallabies.
Cueto says that spirits during the tour were quite low due to a very bad start against the Wallabies. However, he says the last victories of the tour gave everyone a lift that the side badly needed ahead of future matches against some very strong opponents.
England are working towards the World Cup next summer and Cueto believes that the side can raise their performance levels to create a real buzz within the team. It seems he hopes this will be the thing, which helps them to get the edge over other teams.
However, a number of English weaknesses were exposed during the tour of the Southern Hemisphere and only very naive teams are going to ignore these. England remain massive unde dogs when they play the likes of South
Africa and New Zealand so there is still work to be done.
Reasons for Optimism
Cueto is quite right when he says that there are many reasons for optimism in the current side. No one expected them to come away from the tour of Australia and New Zealand with anything besides a long list of defeats and some crushed pride.
However, they showed that they can cope with the pace and skill of the rugby from Southern Hemisphere sides, soak up all of that pressure and then attack effectively themselves. They could easily have crumbled but the leaders in the squad did not allow them to do so.
The winger says there is confidence in the side and they have managed to start believing in themselves again. England have always been capable of beating any other international team but they have never been able to show this on the world's biggest stage. They need to keep this confidence and belief high or they will already be on the back foot by the time the World Cup starts,
Worries
Take Cueto's comments with a pinch of salt because however you look at the comments there are still worries linked to the side. The vulnerability of some areas in the England team was exposed by the Australians and this can't be ignored. These weaknesses will be played to by better teams and means England have to be on the very top of their game by the time the World Cup starts.
There are questions over current members of the England side and former captain, Steve Borthwick, has already been given the axe in less than ceremonial fashion. This suggests that there may be one or two further squad changes on the way and this is something, which will disrupt the harmony of the current side as they look to try and settle down.
There are still a few England games to go before the World Cup next summer and this means there is still time for worries to develop and things to go wrong. It would be typically English to take all of the things from the Southern Hemisphere tour and let them fall away.
Betting Advice
England can beat anyone on their day but be wary of betting on them in their next few matches. England has now been broken up as a squad, and this has to be taken into consideration. They would have lost the feeling that the squad had during the end of the Southern Hemisphere tour so keep this in mind.
Always look at the statistics when you are thinking about backing key players to do well. This will show you who is more likely to score.
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