1. 

   babs hunt from dumfries and gallowa:

   Sep 11, 22:14

   As Jonny is not playing and it is doubtful if Olly will either, will you be the kicker? Someone with experience surely has to.

   

   Mike Catt:

   We'll see! I'm not just the 12 and we do chop and change between 10 and 12 and you may see that in Paris.
2. 

   andy from wirral:

   Sep 11, 21:19

   Why do you think england haven't gelled yet? And is this because of the lack of good English players in English clubs?

   

   Mike Catt:

   The problem is that the current England squad haven't had nearly as much time together as the last World Cup squad due to the South Africa tour scheduling happening during the season, a nightmare run of injuries to key players etc. Luckily, the pre-World Cup training camps have gone well and we are now gelling as a team.
3. 

   Adam Garland from Berkhamsted:

   Sep 10, 21:34

   I watched the game and I felt that the good points outweighed the bad points. I felt we gave too many penalties, 8 I think. That many would be a disaster against the Boks. How do we reduce the penalty count?

   

   Mike Catt:

   Discipline is crucial and something we prided ourselves on in 2003. It's just something we need to work on in practice and we've made a point of not getting into the position of giving away unnecessary penalties. It's just a question of keeping that disciplined mentality.
4. 

   David Mosley from Purley:

   Sep 10, 18:34

   I am a true fan . My South African & Oz friends are now taunting me with suggestions that England won't even get beyond the pool stage. Kindly confirm that squad/team morale is high, for winning in any sport amounts to mental attitude/confidence. I now wish that I had taken .jpgs of the All Blacks exiting Oz on the morning of 22/11/03. Out of respect, I did not take such images. Tell your team-mates that such shots ought to be in your dressing room, if not in their minds?
   David
   P.S. TWO kickers in the backs is a MUST!

   

   Mike Catt:

   The morale is as high as it can be after the loss to South Africa but we know what we must do to put this right and change things around. It's do or die against Samoa and the lads are really up for it. As you say, we do have the options of plenty of kickers with Jonny, Olly, Toby Flood and myself, so we're not lacking in that department!
5. 

   Cheryl from South:

   Sep 10, 18:00

   Considering the importance of 'mind over matter' (brain research!) how does the team prepare mentally on the day of a game, as individuals and as a group?

   

   Mike Catt:

   Hi Cheryl. Mentally on the day of the game we have a team get-together at 11.00am for an evening match. I’ll take the backs and Martin Corry will take the forwards and we go through what we’ve practiced and how we want to perform and we just work from there so we prepare mentally by going through everything on the day of the game and then it’s up to the individual to make sure they get themselves sorted by 6pm or 9pm or whenever the game is.
6. 

   Clive Macken from Burnley :

   Sep 9, 14:56

   Do you think that you still have the ability to motivate the England team and make them a force to be able to win the cup a second time? I hope everything goes well and I really don't care if you are not impressive on the pitch so long as you win. Just play your best and the rest will come into force. Give my regards to the rest of the team.

   

   Mike Catt:

   Thanks Clive will do. I'm lucky I'm not the only guy who has to do the motivating. We have so many leaders in the team like Ben Kay, Simon Shaw, Lawrence, Joe Worsely, Jonny Wilkinson and Josh Lewsey who have been there and done it. It's vital to have those leadership qualities in the team like we had in 2003..
7. 

   Ricoh from Calne:

   Sep 7, 15:28

   I believe that England are going to try to play an expansive game (which is good). Unfortunately against France this wasn't too successful due to France closing England down. Firstly, can England change the game plan to suit the conditions as they change or don't work out in front of them? And secondly, can England step up a gear in the last 15 minutes? :-) Can England change our game-plan to suit the changing course of a match?

   

   Mike Catt:

   I hope so Ricoh but I'll let you know after Friday!
8. 

   Lea harrison from West ***:

   Sep 6, 13:39

   Hi Mike, Congratulations on making the squad again I for one think you definately deserve the place. With the blend of experience and youth in this years squad is there a feeling that England can win like we did in 2003. I saw an iinterview recently where you said that in the changing room you and Will Greenwood knew something special was going to happen.

   

   Mike Catt:

   We are underdogs Lea and rightly so as we haven’t put in those big performances recently to show we’re up there with the best in the world. It’s vital now with the USA and South Africa games that we show the world we’ve got a chance. And if we get to the quarters then semis, anything can happen!

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