By Bryn Palmer BBC Sport in Paris

Vickery only makes the bench for the crucial Tonga clash

Martin Corry insists he will happily hand the England captaincy back to Phil Vickery if the Wasps prop comes on as a replacement against Tonga.

Coach Brian Ashton opted not to recall his first-choice skipper for Friday's crunch World Cup pool clash.

But Corry said: "If 'Vicks' comes on at some stage he will take over again.

"The captaincy is not something I strive for. The most important thing is I am in the starting 15. If they see me as a captain as well, great."

Ashton remarked that he was "perfectly happy" with the job Corry did against Samoa as England kick-started their campaign after dismal displays against the USA and South Africa.

But it was still something of a surprise when Vickery was banned for the Springboks game that Ashton asked the Leicester stalwart to take the captaincy.

The head coach had previously turned to Mike Catt when Vickery was unavailable or on the bench, having removed Corry as captain when he first took over.

"Brian rang me up and told me he wanted Vicks as captain and I understood his reasons," said Corry, who admitted he did not expect to regain the role, having led England in nine defeats in 16 Tests from 2005-06.

"I said then, if I was in Brian's shoes I would have done exactly the same thing. When he came in, the old system wasn't working so we had to make changes."

Corry believes Ashton's latest decision is not so much a vote of confidence in his own leadership, more one for the form of Matt Stevens at tight-head prop.

"The most important thing is that this is not an easy team to break into, and if that is the case, we must be doing something right," he added.

"I stress Vicks is the captain of this squad. I am captain on the field because he isn't there, but Vicks will take over once he comes on."

Corry, who will win his 61st cap at the Parc des Princes on Friday, insists England will not take lightly a Tonga side aiming to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

"There is no way complacency is going to come into our psyche," Corry added.

"We have had only one decent performance out of three games in this tournament, and four if you include our last warm-up match against France in Marseille.

"We have put ourselves in a hell of a situation. We knew we were in a tough group, but we allowed ourselves to get mixed up in this dogfight we are in now."