Will Greenwood believes England's often maligned midfield will come good at the World Cup in New Zealand.

Greenwood was himself a centre of attention when England won the World Cup in Australia in 2003, a tournament where he was paired alongside Mike Tindall - a member of Martin Johnson's Red Rose squad at this year's edition.

There are many observers who believe England have failed to find a consistent playmaking centre since the now retired Greenwood, capped 55 times by his country, retired five years ago.

The pairing of Tindall and New Zealand born Shontayne Hape has been criticised for a lack of creative spark.

But Greenwood believes the emergence of 20-year-old Manu Tuilagi, one of England's try scorers in a 20-9 win over Ireland in their final warm-up match in Dublin last weekend, has injected some much needed dynamism.

"Hape did some very good things in the Six Nations," Greenwood told the Press Association.

"We all want our centres or our wings to score 58 tries every game, jump through burning hoops and do triple salcos but rugby's not about that.

"It's about putting components together that balance nicely and Shontayne is a very good defender.

"He had a couple of bad moments in Cardiff [during England's warm-up defeat by Wales], coming back from a knee injury, and it's quite harsh to write someone off on the back of one performance but it gave an opportunity for Tuilagi to come in and he took it.

"Tindall brings his experience and had an outstanding game in Dublin.

"He's a much maligned player, outstandingly good at what he does but he needs a counterfoil and in Tuilagi I think they've found one for him."

England, bidding to reach a third successive World Cup final, begin their Pool campaign against Argentina, third in France four years ago, in Dunedin on September 10 and Greenwood expects them to tame the Pumas.

"Argentina have lost a little bit of their stardust," he said. "There will be no Ignacio Corleto, no Juan Martin Hernandez and no Agustin Pichot.

"They've still got Felipe Contepomi but he's had some injury problems so is not quite the player he was.

"The pack, with people like Mario Ledesma and Rodrigo Roncero, is still world class, but they peaked in 2007 so as an England fan you'd like to think they can't peak again.

"They'll be unbelievably difficult opponents but if England can maintain patience and maintain accuracy, there's too much pace within the team as a unit to allow Argentina to really trouble us and defeat us."

But as for the overall outcome, Greenwood is tipping the All Blacks to triumph something they have repeatedly failed to do since winning the inaugural World Cup in 1987 when the tournament was last staged in New Zealand.

"We [England] can turn Australia over in the semi-final. I think we can make the final but New Zealand are destined to win this one."

AFP