England captain Martin Corry hopes the pain of a record World Cup defeat against South Africa can inspire the world champions to victory over Samoa in Nantes on Saturday.

England were humbled 36-0 by the Springboks at the Stade de France last week and while it is still possible for them to lose against Samoa and qualify out of Pool A, a win would be a massive confidence boost.

"I can't sit here and try and put into words my emotions throughout the week, how hard it has hit me, because I couldn't do it justice," Corry said.

"But these emotions must bring out the best in performance rather than inhibit it," added Corry, who stands-in again as captain for the suspended Phil Vickery.

"We haven't needed extra motivation, especially where we are. As the week's gone on, the feelings have changed; at the start there was a lot of anger and frustration but the over-riding one now is to put it right."

England have a new half-back duo with scrum-half Andy Gomarsall, who played the second 40 minutes against the Springboks, partnering Jonny Wilkinson, appearing in his first World Cup match since landing the drop-goal in the 2003 final after being sidelined with an ankle problem sustained during the squad's first training session in France.

"Everyone knows what Jonny's like as a player, he's an excellent communicator, he's also a calm, level-headed communicator," said Corry.

Samoa were beaten 59-7 by the Springboks in their opening Pool match before a surprise 19-15 defeat against Pacific Island rivals Tonga last weekend. But Corry said the way Samoa started against South Africa was a warning to England.

"Look at the way Samoa played for the first 50 minutes against South Africa, they put their absolute all into it and they'll do the same now.

Samoa too have made a change at ten with Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, who plays for Bath coming in after Loki Crichton moved to full-back to replace the injured Gavin Williams.

"He is a very direct runner, he has good footwork, he's a good distributor," said England and former Bath coach Brian Ashton. "He's not a kicking fly-half. They will look to use the ball straightaway."

Samoa coach Michael Jones said his side had learnt the lessons from their upset loss against Tonga and would be ready for England.

"We know where we lost that game. Teams come off second-best when they don't win that advantage line and the collision point," explained the legendary flanker, a member of the New Zealand team that won the inaugural World Cup final in 1987.

Samoa gave England a scare during the last World Cup, leading at half-time before losing 35-22 in Melbourne.

But the teams' last meeting saw England run out 40-3 winners at Twickenham two years ago in a match where Alesana Tuilagi was sent-off for 'tipping' England wing Mark Cueto. England flanker Lewis Moody, a Leicester team-mate of Tuilagi's, was red-carded for punching in the ensuing brawl.

"We have to bring our physicality to the game but we've recognised for a long time we've got to be controlled and disciplined with it," said Jones.

"We have to use our rugby smarts. The stereotype of Samoan rugby players is that it's all brawn and maybe a bit less brain, but that's not true. Our boys are very smart, they know how to play this game and they are not dumb."

AFP