Defence must improve - Dallaglio

Lawrence Dallaglio warns England's defence must be rock solid against Australia next week or their World Cup defence will end in the quarter-finals.

The sides meet in Marseille on Saturday with Australia desperate to avenge their 2003 final loss to England.

Dallaglio, who came on as a substitute in England's win over Tonga on Friday, said: "Defensively, we are going to have to be at our very, very best.

"We can improve in that area, I'm sure, and we need to - we are aware of that."

The Wasps number eight helped England overcome an early 10-3 deficit to beat Tonga 36-20 in the Parc des Princes.

Brian Ashton's side had to defend heroically against the hard-running Pacific islanders, but Dallaglio admits England will need to take their defence to another level against old rivals Australia.

"It is a big fixture, but forget the team you are playing against - it is a World Cup quarter-final," Dallaglio said.

"We will need to move up and tackle hard because Australia are one of the best sides for putting people out of shape and creating space."

England skipper Martin Corry added: "We are a developing side and we have now got two successive wins. We know we have to improve even more.

"We are still playing below our potential, but there is also an element of we don't know how good we can be.

"We have got to keep on improving. From where we were two weeks ago, we have improved dramatically - and we have still got to make drastic improvements."

Current form suggests the Wallabies will start as favourites, although the absence of their injured playmaker Stephen Larkham could level up the contest.

Source: BBC Sport