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How England's golden World Cup run is inspiring some of the Premier League's biggest names
As England prepare to challenge South Africa for their second-ever Rugby World Cup crown in Yokohama on Saturday, their unblemished run to the tournament’s final has provided a source of inspiration for two unlikely candidates.
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Eddie Jones’ side are yet to drop a match in Japan after having blitzed through the pool stages, brushing aside Australia in the quarter-finals and overwhelming reigning champions New Zealand in the semi-finals last week.
Their compelling 19-7 victory over the All Blacks, in particular, has struck a chord within the rugby fraternity, with some labelling the win as the best performance by an English side at a World Cup, such was their dominance against the previous title favourites.
Subsequently, England head into the final against the Springboks as firm favourites, but their awe-inspiring form hasn’t gone unnoticed by some of football’s biggest names in the Premier League.
Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola and Chelsea boss Frank Lampard have both spoken of England’s success in the days leading up to the World Cup final, with both coaches believing they can learn plenty from their cross-code rivals.
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Guardiola – considered one of football’s greatest managers after leading City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona to a plethora of domestic and European club titles – has previously spent time with Jones when he observed a training session during the Spaniard’s time with German giants Bayern three years ago.
Jones has openly spoken in the past about how the City manager has been a major influence on his coaching methods during England’s run to the World Cup final.
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Speaking to reporters on Friday ahead of his side’s league clash with Southampton this weekend, Guardiola reserved plenty of praise for the Australian-born 59-year-old, and extended an invitation to Manchester City for both him and the entire England squad upon their return from Japan.
In the wake of his victorious final clash against Warren Gatland, Steve Hansen brought into question the departing Welsh head coach's post-World Cup plans. #RWC2019 #NZLvWAL https://t.co/wgP5qsR1pI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2019
“We spoke once or twice and Eddie was so kind. It was a pleasure to see him and meet him,” Guardiola said.
“We talked about some movements in rugby. I’m a big fan and I watch on TV but I don’t understand too much about the sport.
“We can learn a lot from them. We didn’t spend too much time together but hopefully they can win the final and we can invite him and his staff to come here and talk more.
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“It would be nice for all of us, and especially for me. So we wish them good luck.”
Guardiola was especially impressed with the physical demands that rugby players have to withstand, and was eager to learn from Jones the recovery processes his players go through.
“I will ask him how they can regenerate the players like they do after the games,” he said.
“How can they survive? It’s incredible, I cannot imagine.”
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Lampard, meanwhile, shared similar sentiments regarding the class of the England squad.
The 41-year-old – who is in just his second season of football management after forging a highly-decorated playing career primarily with Chelsea and England, but also with the likes of West Ham, Manchester City and New York City – spoke of his admiration of the way in which rugby players and referees conduct themselves on the field.
He highlighted the composure shown by England captain Owen Farrell and the All Blacks towards referee Nigel Owens during their semi-final, and suggested it would be worthwhile to also meet with Jones’ squad following the World Cup.
“I think maybe yes (footballers could learn from rugby players),” the Chelsea head coach said to media ahead of his side’s meeting with Watford on Saturday.
“I think we should maybe have a sit-down with them because I was also thinking how well restrained – not restrained, there is no reason you should be restrained – but how well Owen Farrell and every player, the New Zealand players as well, reacted to the referee in the semi-final.
“And I think it is certainly something we could take on board – to take a deep breath sometimes more than we do. I think the respect in rugby seems to go both ways (between referees and players) – I think we could probably all learn.”
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Couple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
8 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
3 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
3 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
8 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
8 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
5 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
5 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
8 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
8 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
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