England v Argentina
Billy, Joel can light a fire under England
ESPN Staff
November 8, 2013
Joel Tomkins found it hard going against Australia on his Test debut © Getty Images
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England attack coach Mike Catt has backed centres Joel Tomkins and Billy Twelvetrees to click when they face Argentina on Saturday.

England opened their autumn Test programme with a 20-13 win over Australia last weekend but they seemed no closer to solving the conundrum in the centres which has dogged their recent performances.

But Catt is optimistic Twelvetrees and Tomkins will find some form this weekend. He said: "All of us were a little bit disappointed with the attacking performance against Australia. But looking at the detail of the game, when you don't get the ability to gain momentum from your set piece it doesn't work for you.

"It's about having patience and when the one or two opportunities do come our way we need to make sure we take them. What happens is players get frustrated by that, so it's a learning curve for them to not allow that to happen.

"We want the set piece we need against Argentina so we can generate the type of ball guys like Billy and Joel thrive on and release the likes of Chris Ashton, Ben Foden and Mike Brown. We'd like it to be nice and dry so we can really move Argentina around."

Twelvetrees and Tomkins made a joint total of 14 metres against Australia and failed to fashion a single line-break. In contrast, full-back Mike Brown made 125 metres alone.

"They both know exactly what they're capable of doing. I'd like to think we've worked exceptionally well this week," Catt added. "There were very few opportunities against Australia. They've only had two weeks together as a partnership, eight training sessions."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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