QUICK START WON’T FLUSTER HOOPER

CAPTAIN Michael Hooper says Australia must not be “flustered” if England’s fast starters strike again this morning.

England have an impressive record of getting on the scoreboard early, but Hooper (right) said: “Starting well is preparing well for the back end of the game when it opens up a bit.

“Starting well is sticking to your principles early, not getting flustered by things that are happening, not getting flustered by the scoreboard because you don’t win the game at half-time.

“Being worried would put us into our shell, being worried would not allow us to play the game we want to play.

“So, if that was the case, we’ve got to have a plan to get out of that, and we will have a plan to get out of that.”

But he warned: “How we can get ourselves into the game is a team effort thing. The breakdown, turning the ball over, winning your own ball, is a team effort, one to 23.

“How we start the game and definitely adapt to what is going on out there is pretty crucial for us.”

England star Billy Vunipola has issued a rallying cry ahead of the game, warning: “Turn up or we go home.”

For the first time since the Wallabies eliminated England in 2015, Eddie Jones and his men face a straight knockout match. Four years of hard toil and painstaking preparation come down to 80 minutes in Japan and Vunipola was blunt when he addressed his team-mates.

The Saracens star said: “I told the lads, ‘This could be our last session’. I said it just to check the boys and I had a few stares. They laughed it off but I was like, ‘I am being serious, if we don’t turn up, we are going home’.”

England have not reached the semi-finals since 2007, losing a last-eight clash to France in 2011 and bombing out in the pool stages last time round.

They are strong favourites despite not having played for a fortnight due to super typhoon Hagibis.

But they are not taking anything for granted and Vunipola added: “If we keep playing the way we have been playing – but just that little bit better

– we’ll be in a good place.”