Rob Andrew has warned England's players and supporters not to underestimate Tonga when they face the South Sea islanders in their World Cup eliminator at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Friday.

England's director of rugby believes the big nations can no longer expect to sweep aside the sport's so-called minnows.

Even though England showed improvement with a 44-22 victory against Samoa in Nantes, in which they scored four tries, with Jonny Wilkinson slotting 24 points, Andrew advised caution.

He said: ''Anybody who thinks we can walk into the Parc des Princes next Friday night and come away with a comfortable victory, I suggest should watch the video of South Africa v Tonga and see how comfortable it is going to be.''

The Tongans earned a bonus point by running the Springboks close in a 30-25 defeat, a week after they unexpectedly dispatched Samoa for the first time in seven years.

Andrew added: ''At international level we've all seen where the game is going.

"With the minnows of world rugby improvement has been across the board.

''A lot of these teams have most of their players employed as full-time professionals in Europe, particularly in England and France.

''Apart from the scrum-half, all the Samoan backline play in the English Premiership.

''Go down the Argentina team list and it is a 'who's who' of leading clubs in Europe. That has effected a change in the landscape of the game. We can't always expect to beat Samoa by 40 points.''

He does believe, however, that England are improving fast and denied they were in crisis following the embarrassing 36-0 defeat by South Africa.

''There were signs there against a pretty useful Samoan side,'' said Andrew.

''They scored four very good tries and were never behind. It was a good performance. They got themselves into a little bit of difficulty in the second half but they dealt with it extremely well.

''Some of the speculation about last week was wide of the mark. When the world champions lose a group game 36-0 there is going to be a reaction. You would expect that from senior coaches and players. But it wasn't a crisis meeting.

''I was in the changing room when (head coach) Brian Ashton and (captain) Phil Vickery were there and they agreed to call a meeting on Saturday morning. It was nothing more or less than you would expect after defeat against South Africa.'