A stalwart of the World Cup campaign, Bristol hooker Mark Regan will again be at the centre of any England revival. He spoke to www.rucked.com…
How’s the team?
We’re obviously in good heart. We’ve got the frustration out of the way and we’re looking forward to getting to Italy now.
What’s the week been like?
It’s been tough at training and mentally it was tough to take the defeat. We played well for 55 minutes, then at 60 minutes the wheels just fell of. We’ve looked at the video, assessed what went wrong and looked at how we can address the problems. Wales won the game because they took chances, it was a feeding frenzy, for them – three mistakes and 17 points. But we had the meeting on Monday and then got back on the training paddock to try and put things right. We’re going to Italy confident we can win.
Have you had much grief from Welsh mates?
No, it doesn’t happen much anymore – I haven’t got any Welsh friends, which is quite handy.
Losing on the opening must take the wind out of your sails a bit?
Yeah it does, the chance of the Grand Slam is over but the chance to be champions isn’t. We need to use the mentality of the World Cup and remember how well we played after we said ‘look we’re in a sticky situation now what do we have to do to perform’.
Few changes, including the loss of Sheridan…
Sheridan is a big blow, we’ve picked up four injuries and those guys were major to the success of England. But we’ve got to get back on the bike now and we’re doing that straight away. We’re going to Italy and it’s going to be very, very tough, they’ll come route one – straight at us. We need to get foothold in the forwards otherwise we’ll lose. They’ve got a monstrous front five, so it’s down to whoever wins the battle up front. Wales went round us, Italy will try and go straight through us.
Wilkinson and Balshaw got a lot of stick…
They’re good enough to be in the side so they’re in, simple. Everything thinks they’re good enough and so they’re playing, it’s as simple as that. They’ve got everyone’s full backing.
You must be glad you came back to the England set-up?
Most definitely, I’ve really enjoyed being involved this last year or two what with the World Cup and all that, I just can’t wait to get stuck into the Italians now. We’ve had a blip, but we now just want to get us back on the map, back on the top again.
Lee Mears, Dylan Hartley, George Chuter – few people after your shirt…
There’s loads of competition in every position. All I can do is perform and keep them at arm’s length. Their time will come, but I’m here at the moment until Brian deems me not be good enough or I think I’m not good enough.
How is Brian after all the post-World Cup drama?
Same as he was, he’s no different. He’s not changed his thought process, he’s still a good coach and we’re all behind him.
What opponents look good for the Six Nations?
The French look good and so are all sides that won, it’s up to England to get on the bloody scoresheet now as well. Our aims are to win the next four games and mess it up for everyone else.