Video: 'New Zealand are the God of rugby' - Eddie Jones' full post-match press conference
England boss Eddie Jones hailed his players for taking it to “the God of rugby” after they recorded a stunning World Cup semi-final victory over New Zealand.
England’s dominant 19-7 triumph in Yokohama came against a nation seeking its third successive world title.
But the All Blacks crashed to a first World Cup defeat since the 2007 tournament, with England charging forward to face Six Nations rivals Wales or twice world champions South Africa in next Saturday’s final.
“New Zealand are the God of rugby, so we had to take it to them,” England head coach Jones said.
“We wanted to take it to them and show we could take the game to them, try to put them on the back foot as much as we could.
“They are a great team. They have won two World Cups in a row. They have got a great coach, a great captain, so we had to battle hard today.
“You always go in with an idea of how you want the game to be, but it never goes exactly like that.
“You have got to give so much credit to New Zealand, the way they kept fighting right until the end. We had to dig deep to win that game.”
Centre Manu Tuilagi’s try after just 97 seconds ensured a dream start for England, with George Ford guiding them home by kicking four penalties and captain Owen Farrell adding a conversion.
It was undoubtedly the biggest win of Eddie Jones’ tenure as @EnglandRugby head coach
– @alexshawsport rates the England players #ENGvNZL https://t.co/Vyfsov38Qe
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 26, 2019
Jones added: “I thought Owen and the leaders on the field were absolutely exceptional. They kept the team discipline, kept to our game-plan, kept attacking where we thought New Zealand were weak and didn’t divert from that.
“I think they were able to get a bit of physical ascendancy (in the forwards). It’s always a battle.
“The thing about playing New Zealand is you might beat them on the scoreboard, but you never actually beat them. You see them at the end of the game, and they kept coming at us.”
Jones was reluctant to enter into the significance of England’s win, with the performance likely to be ranked among the greatest in their history.
And they will now be firm favourites to land a second world crown following a Jonny Wilkinson-inspired success against Australia 16 years ago.
And one day, he might have a try against New Zealand awarded
– @alexshawsport on Underhill and England's box-office performance #rwc2019 ??? https://t.co/q04ou617rs
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 26, 2019
“It gives us another week, mate. We are here for another week and we are looking forward to it,” Jones said.
“We are not historians. We know we can play better next week and we are going to have to play better, whoever we play.
“We are looking forward to Wales and South Africa playing a 3-3 draw so they have to play extra-time, and it’s still 3-3 and they have to play more extra-time!
Hansen casually asks the reporter outside. #ENGvNZL https://t.co/86odTbc0tQ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 26, 2019
“We’ve had two-and-a-half years to prepare for it (semi-final). We had been unconsciously preparing a game for this game.
“When you ingrain habits in your players they are easier to sustain, and we saw some great habits from our players.
“It’s another week or us. When we flew out on September 8, we wanted to be here at the end, and that’s where we are at.
“We set out four years ago, and we wanted to be the best team in the world. We are not the best team in the world, but we have got an opportunity to play in a game to prove we are, and that is all we are concerned with.
“We will just take each day as it comes. We have got another week to enjoy it, and that is what we will do.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Good 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.
19 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.
7 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.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
19 Go to comments