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England locks ready for battle (61)

• Mark Orlovac
• 16 Oct 07, 05:20 PM

Paris 鈥� It has been quite a strange experience being around the camp over the last couple of weeks.

You would have thought that as the has progressed through the knock-out rounds, the tension would have increased. Now they could just be good , but I haven't seen any evidence of it.

England, written off and dismissed, are on the verge of becoming the first side to retain the but are not feeling the weight of expectation that maybe and did.

And so it was on Tuesday as England鈥檚 second-row pairing and greeted the press at a crammed news conference at the squad鈥檚 Parisian base.

Kay's admission that "a lot of guys have been surprised" with the team's progress in France probably gives some hint as to why the side are so serene.

Compare that with the "sense of relief" that he says the players felt in 2003 when after going into the event as favourites, and you can see why the pressure is not so great this time. They have nothing to lose.

"We came into this tournament with everybody telling us we had absolutely no hope right up to the last couple of weeks," he added. "If we were to win it, it would be a phenomenal achievement.

"I honestly believe if we win, it will mean more to me than last time around because of the trough we have been through since winning that World Cup."

Kay and Shaw did not seem too flustered as they discussed the prospect of coming up against one of the crack units in the world game 鈥� South Africa鈥檚 and .

And after forming a pretty effective partnership in France, why should they be?

Kay, who has played every minute of every game so far this tournament, admitted that the line-out would be 鈥渁n area we will be working very hard on this week鈥� but the England pair will feel confident that they have enough to take on this weekend.

In the games against and , England lost only two of their line-outs, and if you forge that with a dominant , you can see why they have had such a solid platform on which to build.

Kay modestly said the line-out had been "adequate" this tournament, saying: "On occasions we have driven pretty well and against France and Australia we have shown that we can stop teams driving against us pretty effectively.

鈥淏ut the South Africans are a different . That鈥檚 an area they look to dominate matches in and obviously we will have to step it up and compete a bit harder in the air than we did against France."

For Shaw, Saturday鈥檚 final will mark the high point of a long international journey.

The 34-year-old lock has only claimed 42 caps since making his England debut in 1996 and has missed out on three World Cups.

Injury forced him out of consideration for the 1995 tournament while he failed to make the squad in 1999. In 2003 he was omitted again only to go out as 31st man after an injury to .

He did not make it out onto the pitch however and for that reason he says his and World Cup winner's medal are "stashed away somewhere".

And he is delighted that he is preparing for a final after having contributed far more to the campaign this time.

"It鈥檚 a dream to be involved in this World Cup final," he said. "A few months ago I didn鈥檛 really believe that I would get here let alone play in a final.

"I鈥檓 here on the biggest stage that the game can offer so I鈥檓 pretty happy. There has been 12 years of hard work to get here so it will mean a huge amount."

Shaw was keen to shrug off any comparisons with England鈥檚 World Cup winning skipper but Kay, who played with Johnson at , gave his own insight as to how the two players compare.

"Shawsy鈥檚 a bit less boring!" he said. "They are pretty similar in the physicality they bring to the game. If Johnno had not been there then Shawsy would have had a huge number of caps by now.

"When Leicester play Wasps he is the player in the forwards that we worry about most. It鈥檚 great to be able to build a relationship with him on the pitch where he is not trying to knock the hell out of me."

England fans will be hoping this imposing pair can give the something to worry about at the .

Mark Orlovac is a 大象传媒 Sport journalist based in London. He will be based in Paris for the knockout stages of the Rugby World Cup.

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