Graham Rowntree insisted yesterday that England can win the World Cup despite possessing a team whose best years lie two to three years in the future.

Rowntree, the Red Rose forwards coach, was responding to comments made by Rob Andrew in which the Rugby Football Union’s professional rugby director stated the current squad will not reach their peak around 2017-18.

“Is this team going to peak at this World Cup? I doubt it. I suspect this team will get better over the next two or three years,” said Andrew, who added that the inexperience would not prevent England being crowned world champions in October.

England’s starting XV for their final warm-up game against Ireland at Twickenham today contains 439 caps, over 200 less than the average of 664 for the four sides who have lifted the Webb Ellis Cup since 1995.

Rowntree, who declared “our World Cup starts tomorrow,” accepts the squad is still early in its development cycle but does not view that as an obstacle to claiming the ultimate prize over the next two months.

“As Rob said, we know that we can win a World Cup with this group of players. And that excites me,” Rowntree said.

“This team will only get better and better with experience, let’s all agree that. I can see that from working with the guys day in, day out.

“We will absolutely get better with experience and we will be become more experienced in three years’ time.”

The visit of Ireland provides the final rehearsal for the World Cup opener against Fiji on September 18 and to that end England have taken the away dressing room at Twickenham knowing it is the one they must use for the clash with the Islanders.

At the top of their priority list is addressing the dismal pack performance in Paris two weeks ago, with the set-piece — and particularly the line-out — in need of closest attention.

Lock Geoff Parling, who has been restored to the second row in the hope his calling expertise will result in an improvement, has stated that England have not suddenly become a poor set-piece side and Rowntree insists that must be demonstrated against Ireland.

“We’ve not been the worst pack in the world over the last couple of years,” Rowntree said.

“As a coach I’ve looked at the performance and don’t get hysterical about what’s been said and understand what we have done over the last couple of years against good opposition.

“I told the players that there are elements of our game that we have to do better. We’ve looked at it and corrected it. Now it’s important that we deliver against Ireland.”