England's Palmer eyes rugby World Cup chance

England lock Tom Palmer is desperate to nail down a World Cup starting spot in the absence of rival second-row Courtney Lawes. Northampton's Lawes was banned for two matches after kneeing Argentina hooker Mario Ledesma in England's 13-9 tournament opening victory in Dunedin last weekend. Palmer, who impressed after coming off the bench to replace Louis Deacon against Argentina, would appear to be in pole position to take the now vacant starting spot when England continue their Pool B campaign against Georgia in Dunedin on Sunday. "I knew right from the start that in this World Cup if I wasn't starting the first game there would be the opportunity for me," Palmer told reporters at England's hotel on Wednesday. "The nature of the World Cup is that there's a squad of players that gets used. Every time you go out, you have to do your best and hopefully the coaches will notice that and you'll get into the side next time."Palmer, who has been in and around the England squad for 10 seasons yet won just 29 caps, was only on the field for 12 minutes against Argentina. But in that time he helped in the move that saw England, overturn a six-point deficit with the only try of the match from replacement scrum-half Ben Youngs."I was pleased. I came on and went straight into a lineout, took the lineout, had a little carry after that and we ended up scoring off that play. So that was obviously the best way to enter a game," Palmer said. Palmer, who plays for Paris-based Stade Francais, has come across several of Georgia's powerful forwards in French domestic rugby."I know some of the guys, I've played against them a few times and I think they are going to be a big challenge up front. "They've got a very strong scrum, good mauling game. I suspect they will try to make the breakdown a mess. I think it will be a fairly similar game to the one against Argentina." Georgia began their World Cup with a 15-6 defeat by Scotland in Invercargill on Wednesday, a match where the Scots' failed to score a try.This was the latest first round result where a 'lesser' side, while not winning, had given an established nation a tough contest. "The lower-ranked sides you really expect to come at you and you know if you're not focused and you're not mentally right, there's a chance you could be embarrassed," Palmer said. England struggled against Argentina before, in manager Martin Johnson's words, "finding a way to win". And Palmer said England would settle for a repeat against Georgia. "Winning is the most important thing, to lose would be a massive setback. "Obviously, we want to play and have the things we work on in training put into the match. But we'll take a win by a point, to be honest."However, Palmer added: "We'd rather win by more than that, we'd rather play some good rugby in the process."