England lock Courtney Lawes has revealed that he has finally regained his confidence in defence after injuring both shoulders last season.
The Northampton Saint is renown as one of the biggest hitters in rugby union, but hurt his right shoulder in England's Six Nations victory over France, and his left shoulder the following week.
"I was struggling, picking up stingers frequently and lost all confidence in tackling," Lawes told reporters after England's 23-12 victory over Ireland.
"I would never step out of a tackle but there were tackles that I missed that I would have never missed normally or situations where I could have made a bigger hit or attempted to make a bigger hit but I was reluctant to.
"You are like the talisman of the team and if you are not able to do that or be that player it is intensely frustrating.
"It feels good to have the confidence to go out there and tackle again – not even big hits, just general tackling and not having to worry about hurting myself because it does play on your mind."
The 26-year-old is expected to start when England kick off the World Cup against Fiji on September 18.
Rob Conlon
