Rugby Union: We're ready for rugby's Mt Everest

WHAT a season it's been - but if you thought that was tough, wait until you see the next six months.

It will be the biggest challenge ever faced by an England rugby team.

Winning the Grand Slam might have seemed like climbing Everest, but compared to what is coming up it was like getting to the top of Ben Nevis.

The domestic season finishes on May 31 with the Zurich Championship final and the Zurich Wild Card final - then England are straight on the plane to Wellington and a date with the All Blacks.

Depending on the result of Saracens' game against Leeds today I, along with quite a few of the England lads, could be playing on the Saturday and travelling to the other side of the world a couple of days later.

Once we arrive in New Zealand the serious countdown to the World Cup is underway. We play the New Zealand Maoris on June 9 and the full-blown All Blacks five days later - and they will be smarting from the beating we gave them at Twickenham in November.

Although I have been to Australia on five tours with various age- group teams, England and the Lions, I've never played a game in New Zealand. But I know what to expect. From watching them win the 1987 World Cup as a schoolkid, when my current coach Wayne Shelford was at No 8 for the Blacks, I knew there was something special about them.

In our previous match the All Blacks were missing a few big names like scrum-half Justin Marshall, flankers Richie McCaw and Scott Robertson and second row Chris Jack. They will all be waiting for us in Wellington, in peak condition and with World Cup spots to play for.

Flanker Marty Holah is one to watch. He played at Twickenham and made my 50th cap rather more awkward than I'd have liked. He gave us a lot of bother with the way he slowed up the ball and competed at the breakdown.

Because we don't see the All Blacks as often as other sides - I've only played against them four times in six years - there are a few myths floating about.

One is that they are a dirty side - but they're no dirtier than any other team you'll meet at international level.

Tough, physical and hard-nosed, they tick all the boxes on those fronts - but these days you can't get up to too much argy-bargy. There are too many cameras around and any indiscretions will be harshly dealt with.

From New Zealand we move to Melbourne to play the world champion Wallabies. We have had the upper hand over them at Twickenham in the last three years but playing them down there in June is a different matter altogether, as we know from the last Lions tour.

I have had some great duels with their openside flanker George Smith and, if I'm picked, I'm expecting another one on June 21. He is right up there with the best in the world.

I have hazy memories of the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne. In the second Test of the Lions tour, which we lost 35-14, I walked into a Wallaby arm and got taken off with concussion. It would be great to come away with a win - and a clear head.

After the tour we get a bit of time off and then play a Test against Wales and two against France. The first one against the French is in Marseilles, a rugby hotbed where the atmosphere is a bit livelier than at the Stade de France.

We've been playing non-stop for nine months and it will be the best part of a year before we can get a long rest, so you don't have much time to look back on what's happened this season.

Two games stick out, though. Against Australia in November we managed to ship 25 points in 17 minutes and we were up the creek without a paddle at 31-19 down with 25 minutes left. In the past we might have panicked and changed our game, but we didn't.

Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson didn't make a wrong call and we kept our nerve to edge it by a point. That game proved we can win when things are not all going our way.

And the Grand Slam game in Dublin was one of the most satisfying I've played in an England shirt. We buried the myth about not being able to win away and it was the perfect performance to take into this summer's tour.

England also play the Barbarians next Sunday and coach Clive Woodward has taken the chance to have a look at a few new faces.

I'm glad to say there are five Saracens players in the squad and they've got a shot at getting into the summer tour or on to to the tour of America and Japan.

Matt Cairns and Kevin Sorrell have been rewarded for a strong finish to the season and Kyran Bracken, David Flatman and Ben Johnston must all be in with a shout at the World Cup.

Don't write off any of the players who go on the so-called second- string tour. The last time England took a side to North America in 2001 the Lions were playing in Australia so Clive Woodward took a lot of youngsters.

Steve Thompson, Josh Lewsey, Ben Kay, Joe Worsley and Lewis Moody were all on that trip - and look where they are now!

Interview:

ADAM HATHAWAY

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