England are preparing for their next match against Pool C leaders Samoa without their try scoring centre Will Greenwood.
Greenwood, a try scorer in the 25-6 win against South Africa, flew home earlier this week to be with his wife Caro, who is experiencing problems with her pregnancy.
According to his centre partner Mike Tindall, the loss will be considerable for the top of the pool clash which sees England face an undefeated Samoa.
"Will is captain of the attack. He's a great thinker, that's his main strength. The way he reads the game," Tindall said of Greenwood, who is expected to return for England's final Pool C match against Uruguay on 2 November.
"But the other boys wouldn't be here if they weren't good enough. Everyone knows what we're trying to achieve."
But beware the Samoan side step
Also unavailable will be star second row Danny Grewcock (broken toe), his absence felt by fellow forward Trevor Woodman, who warns the Samoans will be strong upfront.
The prop believes England will have a game on their hands when they line up against the Pacific Island nation at Melbourne’s Telstra Dome - especially as his Gloucester teammate Terry Fanolua is in the opposite team.
"Fanolua's one of our main men at Gloucester when he's defending and with the ball in hand and we'll be watching out for that Samoa step,” he said of the Samoan centre's dogged penchant for running straight over the top of defenders.
"Terry Fanolua's a man from a proud nation and his side are top of the group.
"We'll work all week preparing for them and hope we can be on top of the group by the time we get to Sunday, but we know the Samoans are always very good at upsetting people in the World Cup."
Samoa are top of Pool C after impressive wins against Georgia and Uruguay and have a Rugby World Cup pedigree that includes wins against Wales, Argentina and Italy in past Tournaments.
England out to improve
Despite this England centre Tindall is speaking confidently about his side’s aims, in particular their desire to pick up the tempo in attack.
And he insists that they are aiming to emulate Australia, who conceded just one try in the whole Tournament before lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in 1999.
"I thought we defended very well, but we didn't attack too well against South Africa. We seemed to lose a bit of rhythm," said Tindall.
"We have to make sure we go into the game against Samoa with more cohesion.
“But one of the things we said before the tournament was that the World Cup is normally won by sides with the best defense. Nobody has scored a try against us yet."