Regardless of what he sees out of his bedroom window this week, Eddie Jones is not one to believe in fairytales. England arrived at their Disneyland hotel on Monday, where they will spend the week preparing to face New Zealand in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final, with their head coach insisting it does not require magic to beat the All Blacks.
Rather, a fast start and sticking to the task are the key planks of Jones’s approach as England seek to inflict a first World Cup defeat on New Zealand for 12 years. He is not interested in Clive Woodward’s attempts to bust the myth that surrounds their opponents – he famously banned his players from referring to them as the All Blacks – and when Jones was asked last autumn about how he would feel if the Twickenham crowd sang Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to drown out the haka, he replied: “They could be playing the Spice Girls and I wouldn’t know, it’s got no relevance to me at all.”
Written by Gerard Meagher in Tokyo
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/21/steve-hansen-eddie-jones-new-zealand-england-world-cup-semifinal under the title “Hansen and Jones show respect – and confidence they can overcome | Gerard Meagher”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
