Eddie Jones compares England beating All Blacks to Alex Ferguson dethroning Liverpool
Eddie Jones has challenged England to alter the course of rugby history by emulating the success of Sir Alex Ferguson in dethroning Liverpool.
New Zealand await in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final at International Stadium Yokohama as Jones’ four-year reign reaches its defining moment.
The All Blacks are in pursuit of an unprecedented third successive global crown and are the sport’s dominant force, but Jones uses a football analogy to explain the task confronting his players.
Ferguson famously remarked when becoming Manchester United manager in 1986 that his first job was to “knock Liverpool off their perch” in reference to their rule over English football.
Jones senses the time is right for New Zealand to be relieved of their crown.
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“That’s what we’ve got the opportunity to do. When you’ve been involved in rugby the country you want to knock off is New Zealand because they’ve been the best,” Jones said.
“And the reason you’re involved in this game is you want to be the best. You’ve got the opportunity to change rugby history on Saturday and the whole team is excited about it.
“It’s going to be a great contest. Two heavyweights, one dressed in black, one dressed in white. You couldn’t think of a better scenario.”
England have not progressed beyond the quarter-final stage since 2007 and four years ago they failed to reach the knockout phase at all.
What it's like behind the scenes having three Barrett brothers in the All Blacks squad in Japan… https://t.co/DJ0rFm0PO2
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Stacked against that record are New Zealand’s triumphs in 2011 and 2015 that expose the underdogs’ lack of big-game experience on the greatest stage.
Jones insists, however, that England’s status as a prized scalp means they will be well prepared for such a high stakes occasion.
“Our players have played a lot of big games. Every game they play at the Six Nations the other country is coming for them,” said the head coach, who has picked George Ford at fly-half in the only change to the side that defeated Australia last weekend.
“We play Scotland at Murrayfield, they come for us. Ireland at Lansdowne Road, they come for us.
“Thirteen of our players were involved in the Lions tour. They have big-match experience. And this is a big game, let’s not doubt that.
“Players have had big-match experience, they’ve failed, they’ve had success and that’s one of the things I like about this team.
“If you look over the four years, we’ve had success, but we’ve had failures. We’ve had to learn from those wins and from those losses, and Saturday it’s going to be tested again.
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“When we played New Zealand in November we learned that you’ve got to be alive in every moment of the game.
“There were times when we weren’t and we allowed them back in the game. That’s been the greatest lesson of all.
“The All Blacks traditionally score most of their points in the second 20 minutes of the first half and the second 20 of the second half.
“The most crucial stage of this game is going to be the second 20 minutes of the second half, where the game’s going to be won or lost.
“We’ve been particularly diligent in selecting our team to take that into consideration. In fact we selected our finishing team first.”
Jones has called on England fans to play their part in propelling his side into the final.
“We saw their support in the football World Cup and in the Cricket World Cup and we are feeling it in the Rugby World Cup,” he said.
“Our supporters on Saturday have got a big job for us. They are probably going to be outweighed in that stadium, so we need them to be at their most vocal.
“They need to drink a fair bit of beer beforehand and be ready to go!”
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Are the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
2 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
2 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 commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to comments