Preview: England v New Zealand

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England believe they can beat the All Blacks on Saturday and Billy Vunipola knows exactly why: ‘We trust in Eddie’.

In Eddie Jones, England have a head coach who has made a habit of beating the best.

Five times in 11 meetings he downed the All Blacks when in charge of the Wallabies, including in the 2003 World Cup semi-final.

Then last year he led the Red Rose to within Courtney Lawes’ big toe of downing them once again at Twickenham.

There does appear to be something special building out here in Japan for England, they have cruised into the final four, winning every match by an average margin of 31 points.

But it is going to be a whole lot closer than that on Saturday night in Yokohama, you would think.

This All Blacks side, while perhaps not the all-conquering vintage of four or eight years ago, are still the best in the business.

You only have to look at the way they have already dispatched both South Africa and then, in spectacular style last weekend, Ireland to know that.

But England have Jones on their side, they also have picked a matchday 23 shot through with 2017 Test Lions that claimed an historic series draw in New Zealand two and a half years ago.

The fear factor is gone, according to Jones, who has made only one change to the side that downed the Wallabies so impressively in Oita, but it is a big one.

George Ford returns to the No.10 shirt he wore with such distinction during the pool stages, with Owen Farrell sliding to inside centre, Manu Tuilagi to No.13 and Henry Slade to the bench.

It was in the No.13 shirt that Tuilagi destroyed the All Blacks back in 2012, but England have not beaten the world champions since then in six encounters.

This time around though the All Blacks have a fresh-faced look to them, particularly in the back line where only Aaron Smith remains from the starting back line that won the semi-final against the Springboks four years ago.

But there remains an experienced core, after all skipper Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock and Sonny Bill Williams are all hoping to make it an unprecedented three World Cup crowns in a row.

Head coach Steve Hansen has sprung one surprise, inserting Scott Barrett into the back row instead of Sam Cane as he looks to repeat the lineout domination that characterised their fightback at Twickenham 12 months ago.

But England will be ready on Saturday, Jones has admitted he has been preparing for this game for two and half years since the draw was made.

There is no harder task, arguably in world sport, than toppling the All Blacks but England believe. Now we just need to see it.

England v New Zealand, Saturday October 26, Yokohama, Kick-off 9AM (BST)  

What they said

England head coach Eddie Jones on the All Blacks aura: “I don’t think they are vulnerable but pressure is a real thing. The busiest bloke in Tokyo this week will be Gilbert Enoka, the mental skills coach.

“They have to deal with all this pressure of winning the World Cup three times and it is potentially the last game for their greatest coach and their greatest captain and they will be thinking about those things. Those thoughts go through your head. It is always harder to defend a World Cup and they will be thinking about that and therefore there is pressure.”

Jones on England’s progression over his four-year tenure: “Owen might remember the first meeting we had, we said we wanted to be the world’s best team. You could see the ability was there, we just needed to change a few things, change the way we train, the way we play, the way we think. We have progressively done that over four years, and we have put ourselves in a good position.”

England No.8 Billy Vunipola on his head coach: “We haven’t beaten them but it almost helps you and fires you up, motivates you to go out there and change the course of history.

“It’s a semi final. I don’t think I’ve known a coach who has beaten New Zealand more times than Eddie.

“He always knows how to do it. It might not happen consistently, but he has the formula so trust in Eddie and hopefully it leads to a good performance.”

All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen: “What he (Jones) needs to work out is what are England going to do about the pressure they’re under. Because they’ll have memories about a tournament four years ago that didn’t go that good – so they’ll be under immense pressure themselves.

“So to say they’ve got nothing to lose, Eddie doesn’t believe that either. They’ve got a whole four years work resting on one outcome so they get the opportunity to go and play another game which will have the same amount of pressure on them.”

Hansen on the selection of Barrett at blindside flanker: “I’m not going into too much depth about that because otherwise we’re giving Eddie some information that he’ll probably be able to work out pretty quickly himself. Obviously, it’s strategic; it’s not on form. Sam Cane is playing lovely rugby.”

Key battle – Maro Itoje v Brodie Retallick

Two of the very best in the business go head to head in the second row on Saturday.

Of course, there are huge match-ups everywhere you look but the battle in the boiler room should be pivotal.

Retallick has recovered from shoulder surgery this summer, and his all-round skill-set makes the All Blacks a much stronger side with him in it.

Itoje has been superb this World Cup, his minutes have also been managed this year meaning the two should be at full noise on Saturday.

The All Blacks dominated the lineout in the second half of their last clash, so the battle in the sky will be one to watch.

But in truth, these two locks are modern day polymaths with few if any discernible weakness – should Itoje get the upper hand then England’s chances of victory increase vastly.

Match Notes

  • These teams have met three times previously at the Rugby World Cup, with the All Blacks winning all three meetings.
  • New Zealand have won 15 of their past 16 (in all tests) against England, the only exception in that run being a 38-21 defeat at Twickenham on 1 December 2012. Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Joe Launchbury all started for England that day. Mako Vunipola, Courtney Lawes and Jonathan Joseph came off the bench.
  • Billy Vunipola will win his 50th cap for his country on Saturday. After a miserable run of injuries in 2017 and 2018, he has now started 14 Tests in a row for England this calendar year
  • Codie Taylor plays his 50th test for New Zealand. He becomes the 60th player to play a half century of test matches for the All Blacks.
  • Kieran Read captains the All Blacks for the 51st time and equals 1992-1997 All Blacks hooker Sean Fitzpatrick in joint second place. Richie McCaw is the record holder, captaining New Zealand on 110 occasions.
  • Ben Youngs and George Ford play together at 9 and 10 for the 33rd time for England. No half-back partnership has played as much for England in the professional era.
  • The Vunipola brothers, Mako and Billy, and Manu Tuilagi start together for only the fourth time. In the previous three, against Ireland and France in the Six Nations, and Australia in this year’s World Cup quarter-final, England scored 92 points and conceded 37 in the 188 minutes the three were on the pitch together.
  • Nine players from England’s 23 played at least one of the three Lions test matches against New Zealand two years ago.

Teams

England: 15. Elliot Daly, 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Manu Tuilagi, 12. Owen Farrell (c), 11. Jonny May, 10. George Ford, 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Courtney Lawes, 6. Tom Curry, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Billy Vunipola
Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Dan Cole, 19. George Kruis, 20. Mark Wilson, 21. Willi Heinz, 22. Henry Slade, 23. Jonathan Joseph

New Zealand: 15. Beauden Barrett, 14. Sevu Reece, 13. Jack Goodhue, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 11. George Bridge, 10. Richie Mo’unga, 9. Aaron Smith, 1. Joe Moody, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Brodie Retallick, 5. Sam Whitelock, 6. Scott Barrett, 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Kieran Read (c)
Replacements: 16. Dane Coles, 17. Ofa Tuungafasi, 18. Angus Ta’avao, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Sam Cane, 21. TJ Perenara, 22. Sonny Bill Williams, 23. Jordie Barrett

The post Preview: England v New Zealand appeared first on Six Nations Rugby.

Source: 6 Nations

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