Gomarsall determined to make most of chance that was a long time coming

Despite his inspiring performance last weekend, the England scrum-half tells Chris Hewett that he is taking nothing for granted

Gomarsall will be a key player against Tonga

Old age is no bad thing, especially when you consider the alternative, so Andy Gomarsall is perfectly entitled to cherish his fourth coming as an international scrum-half. His Test career was first declared dead and buried as long ago as 1997, and there have been regular pronouncements along the same lines ever since. He was resurrected by Clive Woodward in 2000, and again in 2002, but he always seemed to be on borrowed time. Even here in France, he found himself wondering whether he was still a going concern. He discovered the answer to that little conundrum last weekend, much to his delight and satisfaction.

At the last World Cup in 2003, England wanted Gomarsall among their number but did not truly need him, thanks to the presence of Matthew Dawson as senior half-back and Kyran Bracken as his most determined – not to say implacable – rival for the position. This time, Gomarsall is the main man. The champions did not plan it this way: Shaun Perry of Bristol arrived here in possession of the shirt, having impressed the coaching panel sufficiently to be given a starting place in all three of last month's warm-up fixtures. But Perry found himself over-matched against the spectacularly effective Fourie du Preez during the heavy defeat by the Springboks a fortnight ago, and, as a result, Gomarsall returned to face the Samoans in Nantes.

The performance he delivered was as good as anyone could reasonably have expected from a much-travelled 33-year-old dismissed by his critics as a chronic underachiever. From the outset, his passing from the set pieces and his clearances from the breakdown were snappier and more accurate than anything Perry had managed in the games against the United States and South Africa, and when the bad times kicked in during the second half, his defensive work was every bit as valuable as Bracken's had been at the difficult moments in Australia four years previously. That is to say, it bordered on the Herculean.

All this from a thirtysomething veteran with six separate Premiership tours of duty behind him? "I've learnt to take things week by week, but I still crave the opportunity to represent my country and I still take the field believing I can play a a decent game of rugby," said the former Wasps player, who also happens to have captained Bedford, turned out briefly for Bath, made a worthwhile contribution at Gloucester and attempted to make a contribution at Worcester (he left Sixways in high dudgeon, complaining in exasperated tones of unfair dismissal) before joining Harlequins, his present employers, whom he considers to be everything Worcester were not. This evening, in the grand old rugby bullring of Parc des Princes, he has an opportunity to produce the kind of display that will make his rival half-backs, Perry and Peter Richards, irrelevant for the remainder of the competition.

"Everything is secondary to this one game," he pronounced on Wednesday after a training session described by Brian Ashton, the head coach, as the most encouraging of the tournament to date. "There were some rewarding aspects of our victory over Samoa, but there is no room and no time for pats on the back in this situation. Do I feel a sense of self-justification, being back in the side once more after a spell among the also-rans? Like everyone else, I wanted to be a part of what was going on. But that was then, and this is now. I'm delighted to have the responsibility of wearing the No 9 shirt against Tonga. It goes without saying that I intend to make the most of it."

Perry is no spring chicken at 29, but as a late developer with only two years of Premiership rugby behind him, he proved easy meat for the predatory Du Preez. Quite simply, he did not possess the wherewithal to minimise his losses, to defend his own dignity by cutting a few corners and cramping the Pretorian's style. The third scrum-half, Peter Richards, is not short of top-flight experience – he toured with England as far back as 1998 – but has only half a dozen caps to his name and is very much a peripheral figure. Gomarsall has emerged as a senior figure in this party, and while senior figures do not always land the best jobs (ask Lawrence Dallaglio, who commands respect but cannot command a place in the team), few would disagree that he is among the half-dozen most important individuals in the group.

"It's not for me to make a judgement on whether I've improved the link between the pack and the back division," he said, referring to an area of concern highlighted by the second-row forward Simon Shaw, who, after the misfire against France in Marseilles last month, put forward the theory that England's problems were rooted i * the absence of any meaningful relationship between the two sections of the side.

"What I can say is that when I watched the video of the victory over Samoa, some of the things we did still annoyed me. They were small things, mostly; matters of detail that didn't happen the way we'd planned. We get them right every day on the training paddock, but that's not the point, is it? We have to fix these things on the field, where we're under pressure."

Assuming Gomarsall continues to play as he did last weekend – there is no guarantee, for as his record suggests, he is not exactly George Gregan when it comes to consistency – the loss of the Leicester scrum-half Harry Ellis to long-term injury last spring will not be as costly as it might have been. As coincidence would have it, he is likely to encounter the record-breaking Wallaby, the proud owner of the best part of 140 caps, in next weekend's quarter-final. Gregan, 15 months older than the Englishman, is playing like a young buck of 21. Gomarsall will have to shed a few years of his own, just for the afternoon.

Can it be done? Can England, so lamentably poor in the opening matches, really make a go of this tournament? "The confidence levels are getting higher," he replied. "I wouldn't describe them as sky-high just yet, but they are going in an upwards direction. You can see it training. Now we have that performance against Samoa behind us, we're crisper and faster, more accurate in everything we do. The body language is better, too. We're not as subdued as we were. We have a greater sense of purpose about us.

"Partly, it can be put down to the fact that we defended so strongly when the Samoans came after us in the second half of last weekend's match. We were under a hell of a lot of pressure for a while, but we fought them all the way back to the halfway line and then scored the points that really hurt them. They were broken by that, I think. There was a point when they were down on their knees, breathing hard, while we were up on our feet. At times like that, you know you're almost there. We must be careful, though. Every side will have its purple patch: Samoa had one for 20 minutes, and Tonga are bound to have one in this game. These Pacific teams are dangerous opponents."

By comparison, England have not been nearly dangerous enough, notwithstanding their four tries in Nantes. "Actually, spending time out of the side, watching the games unfold from the comfort of my armchair, gave me a broader perspective on things," Gomarsall said. "If I'm honest, I'd accuse us of running into brick walls far too often. I don't want to be in a good team playing with slow ball. I want to be in a good team playing with quick ball."

Amen to that. England are notoriously wary of abandoning their traditional forward-oriented style, but it would not be a sign of weakness to give the Olly Barkleys, Mathew Taits and Paul Sackeys some runnable ball in open field. With Gomarsall in one of his more authoritative moods, badgering and cajoling his forwards into operating at his pace rather than theirs, there is still a chance that the champions will play some rugby sufficiently dynamic to threaten the Wallabies. If they begin that process by putting the Tongans to the sword this evening – and it is worth remembering at this juncture that eight years ago, in the only match between the two countries, England scored 101 points – they will feel a whole lot better about the challenge awaiting them in Provence a week tomorrow.