I won’t criticise players for their mindset to win

The former Leeds Carnegie chief has come under fire from various angles, including England’s 2003 World Cup winning manager Sir Clive Woodward who questioned both the preparation for and the tactics adopted in Saturday’s 
20-14 defeat.

Lancaster will be forced to make at least one change for the visit of South Africa this weekend after Harlequins prop Joe Marler was all but ruled out yesterday with a knee ligament injury.

There have been calls, though, for serious surgery to the make-up of the side to bring some added dynamism both up front and in the midfield area.

But the England coach has stood by his charges and maintained that the problems are not as acute as suggested.

“The game was not as black and white as everyone makes out,” he said, having drawn encouragement from comments from his Wallabies counterparts.

“The Australia coaches said to me afterwards that that was as good as they have played and, until that truck-and-trailer lineout with five minutes to go, we were in with a chance of winning.

“We need to make sure we get that accuracy and decision-making right.

“We pushed them to the line but didn’t get across it and that is the disappointing thing because we believed we could win the game.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to roll our sleeves up and get stuck into South Africa.”

The line-out to which Lancaster referred was a failed set-move which squandered yet another perfect attacking position, something the well-fortified Springboks are sure to capitalise on heavily at Twickenham this Saturday.

Obviously, much was also made of England’s failure to kick at goal when a raft of penalties came their way in the final quarter.

But those judgments were analysed in the squad’s review session yesterday and Lancaster’s attention will now turn to the Springboks, who defeated Scotland 21-10 at Murrayfield but have vowed to go 20 per cent better at Twickenham.

“We have to take what we can out of the game,” he said.

“We talked about all the decisions made in the game. I will support the players in their decision because it is a real-time decision.

“But we have to make sure we get those decisions correct. Did we get them all right? There are some that have been reviewed but I won’t criticise the players for having a mindset to win the game.

“There were plenty of opportunities to win it. We were in the game with less than five minutes to go but the reality is we didn’t.”

In terms of potential changes, young Marler was always likely to be in danger of losing his spot regardless of that injury after an inadequate display in the scrum and loose.

Many fans believe the return of Alex Corbisiero – the heavier and more powerful loosehead – is crucial to strengthening the England front-row in readiness for the physical test the South Africans traditionally bring.

He started every match in last season’s Six Nations and played off the bench in the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg this summer before missing the third with a recurring knee injury. He has only recently returned from that setback, making two starts for London Irish over the last fortnight.

Tom Wood appears a likely starter at blindside flanker while Irish centre Jonathan Joseph could bring some much-needed flair to the midfield after shaking off an ankle injury.

Lancaster said: “We will potentially freshen things up with one or two changes.

“We have players on the return – Alex played 75 minutes (for Irish) on Sunday and Jonathan Joseph played.

“Joe Marler has a grade one MCL so it is likely he won’t be available for Saturday.

“He’d be out of the equation, I think. Alex Corbisiero would come back into the equation for him.

“The selection for South Africa will be based on a variety of things. First and foremost the challenge of South Africa, their physicality and the performances they have been putting in on this tour.”

Geoff Parling, Tom Palmer, Manu Tuilagi, Charlie Sharples and Tom Youngs all sat out training yesterday with “bumps and bruises as opposed to anything too serious” from the weekend.

Meanwhile, Chris Ashton will certainly be hoping for more 
attacking opportunities at the weekend.

The winger got just one sight of the line against Australia and his frustration was clear for all to see, particularly when Tuilagi ignored him on the overlap and ran straight into two defenders.

The muscular Leicester centre has a habit of going route one despite having such a prodigious finisher outside him.

“Manu is a strong lad and he always gets over the gainline so his first instinct is to do that,” Ashton said.

“Hopefully the more I can play outside him the more he will get used to it, then he will recognise the difference between running and passing.

“I thought there was a lot of space out there but it is just us getting to that space and finding the right hole.

“That is the frustrating thing – when you can see it unfolding in front of you and it just breaks down; a bad pass or we end up giving the penalty away.”