Corry: Former England skipper

England meet Argentina in Dunedin on Saturday in their Pool B opener as they begin the quest of attempting to become the first team to reach three consecutive World Cup finals.

While Johnson's side have had an inconsistent build-up to the global showpiece, showing a woeful lack of guile in defeat to Wales in Cardiff before blowing Ireland away in Dublin, they will start as clear favourites against a Pumas side comfortably beaten in their only Test outing of the summer in Cardiff.

Santiago Phelan's side will also be without the talents of star fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez, who misses the tournament through injury, but Corry points out that few gave the South Americans a chance in France four years ago, where they finished third.

He said: "Argentina's style of play has not changed much since 2007, and they have not played much rugby, but people underestimated them in France and look what happened.

"They will get better as the tournament progresses and that means that this is a good time to play them.

"But they are a tough side and they will look to feed off England's mistakes, and you have to ensure there are not too many.

"A lot of what they do comes from what their forwards can generate and what they can spoil. Both with and without the ball.

"That means there will need to be a lot of pick and drives from England, it will not be pretty but it's all about opening up with a win."

England's pre-World Cup form has led to some fairly pessimistic predictions of what the Red Rose can achieve in New Zealand, but Corry says little can be read into the August Tests and that England have nothing to fear having secured a Six Nations title and two Test wins over Australia in just over a year.

"I think England have been inconsistent so there is not a huge amount of confidence," he said. "But England have been very good at times and in the last 12 months they have beaten everyone in their side of the draw.

"There is no-one who should scare them. They have beaten France and Australia so if you are optimistic you can see them getting to the final, but a pessimist may say they will not get beyond the quarter-finals.

"But the warm-up games are really hard to judge. I think Ireland were treating theirs as training matches.

"But I was impressed with England's intensity against Ireland, we did not see that in either game against Wales. They need to take that in to the tournament, if they can do that week in week out they will be tough to stop.

"It's alright doing it as a one-off in Dublin after what happened in the Six Nations, can they keep doing it?"

While there will be plenty of scrutiny on England's performances, there is no doubt that the host nation, who get the tournament under way against Tonga on Friday are the team under the most pressure.

The All Blacks will again start a World Cup as favourites to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy, but the weight of a public desperate to see 24 years of longing come to an end on home turf puts them in an unenviable position.

Corry believes that pressure may again get to Graham Henry's men as the competition progresses, and also feels that their defeat to Australia at the end of the Tri Nations has highlighted a weakness that teams can exploit when facing the likes of Dan Carter and Richie McCaw.

He said: "The pressure the All Blacks are under is ridiculous.They are the best team in the world but once people start to talk about it being 24 years since they won it and the pressure they are under it will play on their minds.

"The one difference to four years ago (when they lost to France in the quarter-finals) is that they are battled hardened coming off the back of the Tri Nations. The key game for them will be South Africa in a semi-final.

"When Australia beat them recently in the Tri Nations they played at an incredibly high intensity and physicality. South Africa are going to be the side who can hit those levels."

::Watch the Rugby World Cup's greatest games and biggest legends every night from 9pm, throughout the tournament on ESPN Classic; on Sky (429) and Virgin (533). For details visit espnclassic.com.