England second row Geoff Parling said Saturday's (3 October) crunch Rugby World Cup clash against Australia was "the game of our lives" and added "I guess our final has come a little bit earlier".

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Geoff Parling, England second row (Q: Have you been told to ignore the criticism that you've faced?)

"And I'd hope that the things that are being said outside the camp, we'd still have massive support for this team because, like I said, we are in the World Cup, I guess our final has come a little bit earlier, so I would hope that the stuff from outside would be getting behind us and from our point of view it's always just backing ourselves in the game to come."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Geoff Parling, England second row (Q: Sum up the hunger in the camp?)

"Trust me mate the hunger is unbelievable. We've been building towards this World Cup for a long, long time. We know we probably threw away an opportunity last weekend, we do not want to repeat that. We are, this is the game of our lives."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Geoff Parling, England second row (Q: Have you discussed about seeing games out when in strong positions at the 60 minute mark?)

"I'd agree, I think certainly, maybe not seeing games out it's maybe putting our foot on other teams throats and keeping them down, because when we're ten points up in a game like that, you get a couple more penalties, you get the next try, suddenly the other team is chasing it, they do things they're not meant to do, you go from there. Like I said, keeping our foot on their throats."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Geoff Parling, England second row, (Q: Australia have lost Will Skelton, but their scrum and set piece remain strong, it will be a stern test for you?)

"Yeah I think it's probably had a bad reputation a few years ago, but that's not the case anymore. They've got a decent scrummage, a strong lineout and they've got a good driving game that they mix up as well, so we know what's coming there, it's going to be a good battle. Our forwards I thought we showed a good account of ourselves at the weekend, we've got to use that as a baseline and go again."