Sam Burgess has urged his team-mates to put their crushing defeat to Wales behind them as they prepare for a showdown with Australia on Saturday.

The rugby league convert picked up only his third cap in the 28-25 defeat at Twickenham Saturday night, and knows how much the Wallabies would enjoy dumping them out of their own World Cup.

He guided South Sydney Rabbitohs to the NRL Premiership Grand Final last year with a broken jaw and was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal given to the game’s man of the match.

The centre is more qualified that anyone to comment on the Australians, and he said: “I spent five years there so I know what they’re like and I’m sure they would.

“We’ve got to get on with our job, not worry too much about them and focus on what we can improve on.

“We’ll probably looking at this game [Wales] in a lot of detail, but if given the chance I’d love to take on the Aussies.

“It will be another great challenge for us.”

At 26, there’s not much he hasn’t seen in the rugby world, and carries himself like a model pro going into his last season.

He knows it’s win or bust Saturday for England, and said: “We can go one of two ways as a team now – we either stick together or put our heads down and feel sorry for ourselves.

“We’ll come out of it stronger I guess, but we’ve got a lot to learn from it [Wales game].

“Throughout the 80 minutes I think our discipline could’ve been better, which essentially kept them in the game.

“Full respect to them, they were clinical when they had their chances and they punished us at the end.

“We’ve go to learn how important discipline is and although calls weren’t going our way, we’ve got to react quicker to the way the game is adjudicated.”

He may have come off second best in the heavily-hyped battle of the 12s, but he did his selection chances no harm ahead of the do-or-die test on the weekend.

Assessing his performance, Burgess said: “You struggle to pat yourself on the back after a loss.

“You’re always looking for things you can do better, but I’m happy with how I went, I felt comfortable – I’m just really upset and disappointed with the loss.

“I thought we were fairly solid in the midfield, but as I said I think our discipline let us down within striking range and they us at the end.

“We’ll work on that.

“It was a great occasion and it’s certainly up there with the biggest games I’ve played.

“I enjoyed the atmosphere – it was great – we were just on the wrong side of the scoreline.

“That dampens it a little bit, but it was still a great occasion and you grow from it every time.

“I felt quite comfortable before the game and I didn’t feel a great deal of pressure in terms of expectation.

“I’d felt comfortable for a long time so if anything I enjoy it more than it’s a hindrance.”

England’s decision to kick to the corner instead of hedging their bets with a draw in the dying moments has been widely criticised, but the Bath man stuck by his skipper’s decision.

Burgess said: “We’ll definitely rally around him and we all back Chris 100 per cent.

“I think a lot will be made of it and it was still a tough kick.

“We back the decision made and unfortunately we didn’t get the result, but we’ll move on from that.”

Was it a lack of experience in the dying embers of the game? Slammin’ Sam didn’t think so.

He said: “I wouldn’t say so, Chris made a call, we backed him as a team and we just didn’t execute it at the end.

“I wouldn’t put it down to experience.”

England now face the biggest week of training in Stuart Lancaster’s reign.

Lose on Saturday and they add their name in rugby infamy as the only host nation not to make it out of the group stages as hosts.

Burgess is pretty clear with where the team needs to improve.

“I think discipline is a big one for us and we didn’t get much set piece attack,” he said.

“When we did, I thought we looked good, but the biggest learn on is discipline.

“We’ve got to get better – it’s as simple as that – and the way to do that is not by dwelling on what has been but looking at what’s in front of us.

“That’s what we’ll focus on this week.

“We certainly won’t be frustrated, but we’ll train with a focussed mind and get ready for the next job.

“I think how you deal with it is by moving on as quickly as possible.

“Learn what you need to learn and then move on.”

Despite the cruel nature of the defeat, the giant centre is still confident England can go all the way and win the tournament.

He said: “ It’s wide open.

“It doesn’t affect us really.

“There’s two ways you can attack it and I think we’ll come out with good mentality and go from there.

“That’s why we play the game – it’s never easy and that’s why we like it.

“There’s a lot on the line and we’re looking forward to it.”