'Don't believe your own hype': England star's warning for do-or-die Wallabies clash
Ben Youngs has cautioned England against believing their “own hype” as they bid to avoid the upset against Australia that would end their World Cup.
The rivals clash in Oita on Saturday in a rematch of the 1995 and 2007 quarter-finals and England are strong favourites to complete a seventh successive victory over the Wallabies under Eddie Jones.
Their last defeat in the fixture was far more significant than each of those wins, however, as a 33-13 rout at Twickenham consigned them to a harrowing group exit in the global showpiece four years ago.
Australia are dangerous World Cup opponents, even allowing for their decline since reaching the final in 2015, but Youngs insists England have yet to reveal the extent of their armoury in Japan.
“Australia are very clever in how they attack and I have always found them challenging in that aspect,” Youngs said.
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“That game in 2015 was one where they came up with a play we had never seen before – Bernard Foley comes around and plays it back inside to Kurtley Beale.
“You think they are going to do one thing and they do something completely different. It’s important we prepare for that.
“I like the way they play with their attacking mindset – and off the back of that you always get chances.
“We haven’t shown a huge amount in any of our games. Against America and Tonga we kept it pretty low-key. Against Argentina we had a bit more in the playbook but again didn’t need to show our hand.
Ireland aren't being tipped by many to upset the All Blacks for the third time in three years as the two sides prepare to do battle in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final on Saturday. #RWC2019 https://t.co/EKEO5JOP4Q
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 14, 2019
“We will make sure we are right and ready to go and have things we haven’t had to use yet.
“You know that there are certain areas of the game you are strong against Australia. That record gives you belief but we won’t read too much into it.”
Youngs is only one of four players in Jones’ squad, alongside Courtney Lawes, Manu Tuilagi and Dan Cole, to have played in a World Cup quarter-final – the 19-12 defeat by France in 2011.
Of the quartet, just Youngs and Tuilagi are likely to start at Oita Stadium, leaving England to face Australia with precious little experience of knockout rugby on the global stage.
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“I was thinking the other day about when we played France in the 2011 quarter-finals,” said Youngs. “At that stage they were deemed to be in turmoil.
“My experience is that you can’t read into what happens in the past, it’s just about that 80 minutes. Don’t believe your own hype as a side.
“We cannot rely on what has happened before, thinking that will be enough, because it won’t be.”
Add in England’s enforced two-week break due to the Pool C decider against France being cancelled because of Super Typhoon Hagibis, impacting on their momentum, and the Wallabies have cause to feel emboldened.
Many of Japan's stars will be forever etched into Japanese rugby and World Cup folkore – and they can thank an unlikely source for their meteoric rise to the tournament's quarter-finals. #RWC2019 https://t.co/qLwsZqN3Hc
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 14, 2019
After four years of build-up to Japan, Youngs admits the prospect of it being over on Saturday is unthinkable but denies their lack of high-quality opposition en route to the last eight is a hazard.
“It would be bizarre. We’ve had pre-season games too and they were tough games, so we’ve had a good run of games,” Youngs said.
“I certainly don’t feel like we’re undercooked. I think we’re in exactly the right spot. We haven’t had to show a huge amount yet – and that’s a good thing.”
– Press Association
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Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments