Former England captain Will Carling believes the current squad could struggle to get of their group at the World Cup.
Hosts England start their World Cup campaign against Fiji at Twickenham on 18 September before facing group rivals Wales and Australia in a vital seven-day period.
And Carling, speaking to the Express, stated his anxiety concerning the ‘Group of Death’.
“I’d like to think we’d win the pool, but I just have this feeling that the Aussies have got themselves in very good shape at the right time. I think Australia will do very well” he said.
“It’s my heart that says us, but then I look at Wales and think they’re a very good team.
“Talk about pressure of a home World Cup – no-one has ever played in a pool like that before! That really is pressure and you can’t call it. They’re all quite capable of beating each other.
“It will be all about who gets it right in those games and deals with that pressure the best.
“A huge amount of it will be mental, not physical. And that’s where I think the Aussies are quite smart.”
Carling also expressed concerns over how the England squad compared to their group rivals.
“The worrying part is you look at all the teams that have done it in the past and they have very settled combinations and a lot of experience. We don’t have that,” Carling said.
“A huge amount of Test rugby is split second stuff, instinctive decisions and you get that by playing alongside guys for quite a period of time.
“No, we won’t have that, so we’ll have to make it up in other areas and that will make it hard for us. But we still have home advantage.
“I’m always trying to be positive and so we have to look … it’s not ideal but we have to get on with it.”
And following the news that Wales have moved above England in the world rankings, former Wales international Scott Quinnell also believes England are set for an early exit in their own World Cup.
“If I had to pick two to go through it would be Wales and Australia, only because there is so much pressure on England to go out there and win this thing,” said Quinnell.
“The Welsh guys will be expecting, the public will be expecting, but we’ll be underdogs and that’s the difference.
“In 2003 England had a huge amount of pressure on them but they had world-class players everywhere. They had world-class players on the bench.
“When you look at this England side and think of the 30-3 loss in Cardiff a couple of years ago and the fact that Wales have won games at Twickenham consistently, which we haven’t done since the 70s, it’s different.
“We’ve got some world-class players. Justin Tipuric can’t get into our side and he’d get into a lot of sides in the world.”
