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Sapporo - Elliot Daly has insisted England's embarrassingly early exit from the last Rugby World Cup means they won't get ahead of themselves despite talk they are one of the favourites in Japan.
England created unwanted history in 2015 by becoming the first host nation to be knocked out in the opening pool round after successive defeats by Wales and Australia at Twickenham.
England appear to have an easier route to the last eight this time around, although an opening pool match against Tonga in Sapporo on Sunday promises to be a physical encounter ahead of key fixtures with Argentina and France.
Daly may have made his England debut in 2016 but the fullback said the current squad had discussed the team's showing at the last World Cup in a bid to avoid a repeat in Japan.
"Everyone wants to win the World Cup, but for us it's just important to get out of the pool well," Daly told reporters in Sapporo on Thursday.
"We've got USA and Tonga to start and then Argentina and France, so they're our main focus.
"We need to perform well in that opening game to get off to a good start and then we can see what happens after that.
"We're in a good place because of the way we've conditioned ourselves, not only physically but also mentally in terms of knowing what this World Cup will be like.
"We've talked about things that could happen at the World Cup. We haven't played a game yet though so it will be interesting to see what happens on Sunday and then we'll go from there."
England coach Eddie Jones, appointed after the 2015 debacle, is set to name his team to play Tonga on Friday, with Daly likely to be included at fullback even though his pace, ball-playing skill and kicking game mean he can also be deployed on the wing or at inside centre.
"I've always seen the World Cup as a target and want to perform to the best of my ability in it," said Daly, 26.
"Wherever that takes me... as long as I know I've done my best in every game I can hold my head up," added the talented back, capped 33 times by England.
