1. 

   James from Midlands:

   Sep 22, 12:16

   Mike, can a try be scored by the following scenario: the opposing team are lined up defending their touch line, the other team has a player run forward, has a jump up over the heads of the opposing team (with the assistance of a team mate cupping his hands to provide a platform to jump from) and scores by going over the heads of the opposing team. I have never heard of this, but my friend who is an avid Wales fan said it has been done. I am unable to find anything relating to this. Best of luck to England, see you at the finals.

   

   Mike Catt:

   I'm afraid not James. Jumping through a tackle in Rugby Union is banned because it is deemed too dangerous.
2. 

   james from Darlington:

   Sep 22, 11:47

   What's the biggest difference from the 2003 winning team to this years team?

   

   Mike Catt:

   In 2003 we had very much a settled squad that had played and trained a lot together and were full of confidence after beating Australia and New Zealand away. The build-up to this World Cup has been very disjointed with a tour of South Africa that clashed with the Premiership, injuries to key players and very little time together training as a squad. it's been tough on Brian and we're only just starting to gel. But results can do wonders for team spirit and confidence, so you never know!
3. 

   pugrugby from cheshire:

   Sep 20, 23:12

   If the game on Satuday goes our way, what if anything will change? When we meet the big boys, will we be able to put up a fight or roll over.

   

   Mike Catt:

   Thankfully, it did go our way on Saturday and we are at last playing the expansive 15 man rugby we've been talking about playing for ages. That's the biggest change, to play with greater width across the pitch and play to our strengths. if we meet Australia in the quarters and play to our gameplan, we can win.
4. 

   Paul from Cwmbran:

   Sep 17, 21:32

   Hi Mike,
   I'm a passionate England fan and to be honest I was really embarrassed by what I saw against South Africa.The lack of pace in the team must be a real concern along with the inability to break defenses down. It seems to me after watching all the home nations so far the only game plan we have is to play a ten man game with the rest of the backs making up the numbers with no game plan on ball skills. Why do you think that the likes of Toby Flood and Shane Gerraghty were left out of the squad, when they gave such good performances in the six nations? All said I hope you and the rest of the team can do English rugby proud and at least make the semi-finals.
   Good luck.

   

   Mike Catt:

   Hi Paul. As you know, Floody has now been called up to replace Jamie Noon and I think it's a good decision. he will have been disappointed to miss out in the first place but in training before the squad announcement he didn't seem to look himself and Olly Barkley really made the second fly-half slot his own. As a London Irish player, I'm obviously a huge fan of Shane Gerraghty and his time will definitely come. He's the future but injury towards the end of the season counted against him this time. we do need to change things up on the attacking front and hopefully you'll see a better attacking performance against Samoa.
5. 

   Frank Chiverton from Mansfield :

   Sep 17, 21:12

   Mike.
   Following the defeat were do we go from here? We have struggled well before now since the last world cup. How do a team who are totally on the back foot with no heart come back from this? I always played my sport with pride and laid my body and soul on the line for my team. In that display only one man put his body on the line and that was Jason Robinson. You players need to take a leaf out of his book and play with all your heart and pride and show the world you are prepared to lay body and soul on the line for the greatest spectacle in the world. I hope my comments are not damming - just lay your heart on the line like Jason Did and you will all come through with pride. Good luck for the next game.

   

   Mike Catt:

   It was very disappointing Frank. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing and I can assure you we were totally up for it but we just didn't perform to the standard we expected of ourselves. You're right in saying we need to change things and we had a meeting after the game to say as much. I do hope that when it comes to Saturday we have everything in place and change what we need to change, express ourselves and play the way we need to play. We have to starve them of the ball, disrupt their set-piece, attack a little more and really create things. It's do or die now so everyone on the pitch will give 100%, believe me.
6. 

   pugrugby from cheshire:

   Sep 15, 10:07

   After the game I think the only positive thing to come out of the game is the only way is up. How would you get the aggression back and start doing the basics right?

   

   Mike Catt:

   As you say, getting the basics right is crucial and we've got a few training sessions before Samoa to work on this and get things right. It's what South Africa did very well against us and we must learn from that. We have to starve them of the ball and if we do that, they'll get frustrated and start giving penalties away. As for the aggression, I don't think you'll see a problem there as Samoa are such a tough physical side. You can't afford not to be up for it!
7. 

   andy from wirral:

   Sep 14, 09:30

   Do you think that the refs are all up to a good standard? Some of the calls from the video ref should be left to the ref on the pitch. As we all like to see the game flow maybe its time for the video ref to go. What do you think?

   

   Mike Catt:

   When it comes to World Cups and big games I think it’s important to have a TMO when it’s needed. When somebody scores a try I don’t see it as a problem to go to the video ref, especially for a player of my age to have a breather for a minute while it goes upstairs! I think games that are won or lost by three or five points it’s vital that we do get it right. I think it’s the right thing to do.
8. 

   Paul from Cardiff:

   Sep 12, 12:47

   New Zealand have been grabbing all the headlines over the last couple of years for the professionalism, precision and ruthlessness that has kept them way ahead of everyone else in world rankings. However, in my opinion, the real stars have been Argentina. They have a very limited game compared to most of the other top nations, yet do the basics very very well. Traditionally they are strong scrummagers, but this has now been augmented by a good kicking game, superior fitness levels and a tenacity that has seen them take some high profile scalps and deservedly rise to 4th in the world.
   
   My question is this, how much can the 6 Nations team learn from Argentina? It seems to me that we all could do with solidifying the basics - set piece, kicking, passing, running, tackling - rather than learning fancy moves or techniques. Icing is all very well, but if the cake ain't baked, it won't hold for long! Do you agree? Would you like to see Argentina as part of a 7 Nations? Should we have included them at the same time as Italy?

   

   Mike Catt:

   Hi Paul. As you say, what Argentina are very good at is doing all the basics right and sticking to a game plan that works for them and it certainly worked against France! It’s not a question of us learning from them but also of playing to our own strengths as they do. We need to be more creative and really take the game to people. At the moment that’s not happening and it’s frustrating from my point of view that we’re not creating. If we were creating opportunities but not finishing any of them I’d at least feel a little happy that we’ve at least created and somewhere down the line, they’re going to come off. Against South Africa, I don’t think we even created one where we could have scored.

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