THE ‘what ifs’ have all been done in the wake of England’s Rugby World Cup defeat to Wales last weekend but ultimately, unless you have been there in that environment, it’s difficult to say what should have happened.

I said last week that I thought England would win a tight game but I certainly wouldn’t have gone the way Stuart Lancaster did with his selection. He picked a team not to lose and that was always going to make the game tight.

What’s annoyed me a little is everybody saying that England were 10 points ahead and that should have been that.

The majority of Test matches involving the top teams are not won until around the 75-minute mark and those last 15 or 20 minutes are when your fitness comes to bear and when clear heads are needed.

The Welsh guys looked a lot more conditioned to those circumstances so people are probably doing them a disservice when it’s said that England threw the game away.

A lot has been spoken about England’s decision late on to go for a try rather than kick a penalty to tie the scores.

What I didn’t understand was that England had a water boy around the field in the form of coach Mike Catt, who was miked up to the other coaches. That decision should have gone straight through him.

Had I been there I would have taken the three points. It’s a tight group, a draw would have been acceptable and you live to fight another day.

What we now know is that England have no wriggle room, they have to win against Australia.

I’d expect that desperation to win the day for them.

With Wales to come, Australia know they have another day to fight on, although we would have learned a lot more after last night’s Wales-Fiji game.

If England try to play a fast and loose game, they are going to come unstuck, but we have a formula to play against Australia and I hope the bulk of the England side will wear them down.