Phil Vickery and Lawrence Dallaglio have the medals and the MBEs which prove they know what it takes to win the World Cup.

The old warhorses of 2003 will be on the bench in the Pool A eliminator against Tonga at the Parc des Princes and from there they hope they will be able to smell fear in England's players.

That's the fear of becoming the first world champions to exit the competition at the group stage.

Vickery, the World Cup skipper who is back from his two-match suspension but consigned to the bench because of the form of Matt Stevens, said: ''You have to have that fear. It's a huge part of the game.

''There's no point in dressing it up, we lose and we're out. We're disappointed at the way we're playing. I wouldn't say confidence was completely back but the training sessions have been better. Jonny Wilkinson coming back has had a big impact.''

Dallaglio was dropped following a feeble performance against the United States but in the words of head coach Brian Ashton has ''trained himself back into the 22.''

Dallaglio knows if he comes on for his 82nd cap it could be his last. But he is desperate to help England into a quarter final against Australia, the team he helped beat to lift the Webb Ellis trophy four years ago.

He admitted: ''Things haven't gone the way I wanted. I did get a start against America and I was disappointed afterwards. But I'm not one for looking back. I have a role to play."