England have set themselves a goal of being the best defensive team in the Rugby World Cup and starting on Friday night when they attempt to stop Fiji with elusive scrum-half Niki Matawalu in their sights.
Brad Barritt is seen as the fulcrum of England's defence and they are aiming to keep a water-tight ship for the duration of the tournament. South Africa had the most porous defence out of any team to win the World Cup - shipping nine tries in 2007 - but it is typically the case that the side who concedes the fewest tries does enough to reach the final.
Though Wales, Australia and England have typically been the trio to headline Pool A - the so called Group of Death - Fiji have been making their own noise of wanting to gate-crash the party. With a backline that boasts some of the most potent finishers in world rugby - Niki Goneva and Nemani Nadolo - and the wonderful Matawalu pulling the strings at half-back, they offer a stern opening test for England and Barritt is only too aware of their threats.
"Yeah, they are unpredictable and they'll spark things from anywhere. Our defence has to be prepared for the unexpected," Barritt said. "And in that regard, I think our defence can be a massive weapon, by forcing them into errors. They are a team that will chance their arm, so if we are on it without defence we know that opportunities for try-scoring will come as a result of our defence.
"We've made a goal for ourselves at this World Cup to be the best defensive team in the world. And we know from the hard work and prep on the fine detail we've put in, both on the training pitch and in our analysis, that Matawalu is a real threat.
"I think you've seen that across the Pacific Nations Cup, and most recently what he has done with Glasgow. He is a guy that can spark it from anywhere. Our decision-making at the breakdown is going to be crucial in terms of how we get our defence organised."
The message from the Fiji camp is that they are "mentally, spiritually and physically strong", according to Goneva, and they are expecting England to come at them on Friday night in the "rucks and mauls and scrums". Lancaster's advice on coping with Nadolo is to "tackle him low" and for Barritt, his focus is on stopping Fiji from finding a rhythm with an emphasis on physicality.
"Our benchmark has always been in this team about decision-making. We know how crucial the area around the breakdown is and we pride ourselves on individuals making good decisions at the breakdown - when to go in, when to go out and when keep numbers on our feet.
"We want to be the most physical team. We want to be a team that has an offence and defence that causes a team to make errors and as a result gets some opportunities off the back of that."