Rugby Union: Corry Fired Up By Oliver's Jibe at 'arrogant' Home Crowd

The England captain, Martin Corry, has called on a record Twickenham crowd of 82,000 to answer their Kiwi critics this weekend and cheer his side to a famous underdog victory over the All Blacks. Corry admitted yesterday that the New Zealand hooker Anton Oliver's remarks about "arrogant" English supporters had given his side extra motivation to end their five-Test sequence without a victory and also brushed aside suggestions that his reshuffled side were certain to lose.

"It's not the England crowd that I know," said Corry, responding to Oliver's condemnation of "the blind ignorance and arrogance" which the latter believes surfaced after New Zealand's 23-19 win in the corresponding fixture last year. "I hope there'll be 82,000 people there desperate to prove him wrong.

"We're going out to win a game of rugby and that's what we intend to do. This is England playing in front of a packed home crowd at Twickenham. The public expectation should be an England victory. We know it's going to take a very special effort for us to win as we're playing a very good side. But do we feel we can give that special effort? Every single one of us does."

Corry, who has moved to blind-side flanker from No8, said England were keen to measure themselves against the world's top side. "We all want to be part of a winning England side. Last year's match was a game we thought we should have won. I feel we've learned from that." Doubts over the fitness of the Leicester lock Ben Kay were also dismissed. Kay had a dead leg this week but took a full part in training and will be fit to face the All Blacks.

Another All Black yesterday claimed England's forwards were bullies. Keith Robinson, a 6ft 6in second row who has made a remarkable recovery from serious back injury, said: "They're bullies; that's their game beating guys up up front. If you take on a bully you are going to be in for one. So you've just got to get in there and try and match it. We are aware of what they can do and have done . . . They're big boys and I suppose it's a compliment. We are playing well and we have to beat up the bully, I suppose."

All of which was a lot stronger than his captain, Richie McCaw, was prepared to say about England's injury-ridden side. The worst he was prepared to call them was underdogs. "I've told the guys to beware the underdog because England could pose us a real threat, for sure," said McCaw, who will be playing his first Test at Twickenham. "What more motivation can you get than to be written off by your own fans before you've even kicked off?

"I know they've had problems on and off the field and have made some changes. But they're now playing a game which we see as quite threatening. They are going to be a danger. We may have won last year at Twickenham but we knew we'd been in a real battle. And a lot of the guys who played that match are still in the England side. Many of their forwards played last year and have a lot of experience."

McCaw is also returning from injury and has played only 47 minutes of rugby since he was concussed - a regular occurrence in his playing career - in the Tri-Nations tournament which saw him targeted by both Australia and South Africa. He took the most recent knock to his head in Pretoria but a more high-profile incident, a spear tackle by Lote Tuqiri, resulted in a ban for the Australian winger.

McCaw said he did not expect to face similar treatment at Twickenham. "I'm quite excited about it to be honest because I missed out [through injury] last year" when three yellow cards were handed out and New Zealand held out with 13 men. "Our team has memories of last year so we know what it's going to be about."

Ten months out from the World Cup, the New Zealand captain says his side have got to keep on improving. "We have to come away from these four games [against England, France twice and Wales] having moved on. You can't stand still otherwise you will be overtaken."