THERE seems to have been a recurring theme about England’s Rugby World Cup campaign down in New Zealand.

Played badly, scraped through.

Winning ugly isn’t a bad thing and I’m sure we’ll all settle for a scrappy three-point margin over France in Auckland on Saturday, when a place in the semi-finals is at stake.

But it would be nice to see a bit of panache in the performance now Martin Johnson’s team have reached the last eight, wouldn’t it?

I know the French are the ones supposed to play with flair, but it’s a shame we seem to be so dependant on the boot of Wilkinson or Flood to see us past the opposition these days, World

Cup or not.

Rugby should be about scoring tries and not come down to which team has the most prolific kicker.