Jonny Wilkinson has described England's opening World Cup game with Fiji on Friday as 'massive' and has urged Stuart Lancaster to treat the clash as a knock-out game.
With Wales and Australia both in Pool A alongside England it has been dubbed the group of death, and World Cup winner Wilkinson has warned England against underestimating Fiji at Twickenham.
The 36-year-old told Sky Sports News that despite the fact it is their first game of the tournament, England should treat it as a last-eight tie.
"It's a huge game," said Wilkinson. "There's no other way of looking at it - it's a massive game.
"England have got to look at it as kind of like a quarter-final very early on.
"It's also an opportunity to stamp their mark on this tournament. Start as they mean to go on; with ruthless professionalism, which means defence, it means intensity and the precision of the details - the accuracy of the execution - but at the same time that no-nonsense stuff that just says 'OK, we know you guys can play' - and jeez can they play - but you say 'right that's enough, this is how we're going to do it, we're at Twickenham now, this is the way it's going to be'.
"Fiji are a great team. They're ranked highly in the world, they've got speed, they've got power, they've got understanding, and they've also got guys that are really dominating European rugby over here and in the Super 15 as well.
"[They] need to be respected - will be respected - but for England, they've got to show that they mean business early on."
England expects
England have not lost at Twickenham since November last year, and with three of their group-stage matches taking place at their home ground, it has led to an expectant crowd.
"You can't avoid expectation, it's the big issue," said the former Newcastle fly-half.
"The better you get, you expect more of yourself anyway, but the high standards, the more consistent that you become, the more people begin to believe that's just what happens. That's just the nature of it.
Wilkinson, who won back-to-back European titles with Toulon, said that England will benefit from the home ground advantage in this World Cup, but says they can't rely on it to carry them over the line.
"In terms of the pressure that comes from the outside, the tighter the team, the more that expectation, the more that energy from the crowd can push you along. If you're loose as a team that energy just goes through you, it doesn't do that for you.
"So the guys have got to get tight themselves and believe that without the crowd, without Twickenham, they'll win it anyway. Then add Twickenham and the crowd, you've got something else, but if you go in there and think 'it's alright because we've got home ground advantage' you're on a loser already.
"The guys won't be like that, the guys will be knowing full well that this is England-Fiji and if it was happening in the park in front of one man and his dog, they've got to win it there, they've got to win it at Twickenham, they've got to win it in Fiji - wherever it's being played."
Legacy
Wilkinson won the World Cup in 2003, but England have never won the competition on home soil. Wilkinson believes this year's squad could be the first to do that.
"The platform's there. All you can control really is your intentions, and your effort levels and your preparation.
"If you do those things you already start to leave a mark, because those are the right values - the respect among the team.
"After that, the results - yeah, it is important. If you finish second people don't remember you as much as the guys that finished first, but I believe they will attack with everything they've got and what happens, happens.
"I think it will great mark whatever, but I really hope that if they get to the final and win it, it will leave a mark that we'll all remember."