Veteran Simon Shaw insists England can go on to win the World Cup despite their Grand Slam failure against Ireland.
Veteran lock believes England can go on to win the World Cup
Veteran Simon Shaw insists England can go on to win the World Cup despite their Grand Slam failure against Ireland.
The 37-year-old lock came off the bench during the 24-8 defeat to Ireland at Lansdowne Road - with the loss the third time Shaw has seen a Grand Slam slip away.
But Shaw believes England can learn from their RBS Six Nations heartache heading into the World Cup.
"In order to have beaten Ireland, we really needed to have raised our game to another level from the intensity we produced in Cardiff," Shaw told the
Daily Telegraph.
Passion
"I still believe, though, that if we get that right in New Zealand, there is no reason why we can't go on to reach the final, as we did in 2007, and go one better this time."
Shaw believes that Ireland's passion to win was the real difference between the two sides in Dublin - with England having prepared as well as they could have.
"Passion plays a key part and there was clearly a great motivation for Ireland to spoil our party - and they came out and played unbelievably well," he said.
"You can do all the training, all the planning and video analysis but ultimately nothing that you have seen in the past prepares you for what is to come."
