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England captain Phil Vickery believes his side will benefit from the fact they enter the RBS 6 Nations Championship as something of an unknown quantity.
The Rugby Football Union reacted to a dismal run of eight defeats from nine Test matches by replacing head coach Andy Robinson with Brian Ashton in December.
Vickery was then appointed captain and Ashton is set to field a new-look England side, including the likes of former Great Britain rugby league captain Andy Farrell.
England open their campaign at home to Scotland on February 3 and Vickery is confident of an immediate change in fortunes at Twickenham.
"I think everyone is very excited," he said.
"There seems to be a huge amount of anticipation surrounding the Six Nations this year - and even more so surrounding the England team, and for obvious reasons with the new players, the new coach and a new captain.
"We are looking forward to getting out there and getting the competition started.
"Everyone is looking forward to seeing what we can offer. There is probably a bit more pressure, but it is a good pressure.
"The last three days (of training) with the England team it has been nice to meet up, look people in the eyes, talk, get out on the training field and speak to Brian.
"It is difficult to compare the atmosphere now with the autumn because, take all the other stuff out of it, just losing a game at home is a horrible feeling.
"Since then I have been made captain and there has been a growth in anticipation."
England's director of rugby Rob Andrew described the Six Nations as a "fantastic opportunity" to shunt red rose rugby back on track.
"This is an interesting time for English rugby. We have not been in this situation for 10 years, where we have been on such a bad run and had so many changes in such a short period of time," said Andrew.
"In a World Cup year it is an immense challenge for these guys professionally to do something special.
"I think English rugby fans will be looking at this group of players - at Brian's coaching and Phil's leadership - and saying there are a lot of experienced players who are playing.
"We need to translate that into an England shirt. If we do that I think there will be a lot of countries who will not fancy playing us."
England had that aura when they won the World Cup in 2003 and Andrew warned it cannot be rebuilt quickly.
Andrew said: "Changes have been made and now people are looking for signs of improvement. We can't really judge that until this team starts playing.
"And you can't judge it from one game, you have to judge it over a period of time."
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Source: Sporting Life |
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