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'We are a bit anxious, a bit nervous but also very excited'
Eddie Jones has perfectly summed up the welter of emotions swirling around next Saturday’s World Cup final between England and South Africa in Yokohama.
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Fours years of work by the English under Jones has come down to a single 80 minutes in Japan and the chance to lift the trophy, an outcome completely at odds with their pool stage elimination at the tournament they hosted in 2015 when Stuart Lancaster was in charge.
“We’ve had four years to prepare for this game,” said Jones after he announced an unchanged starting XV from the team that picked off New Zealand in last weekend’s semi-final.
“We’ve got good tactical clarity about how we want to play, we’re fit, we’re enjoying the tournament – the only sadness is that the tournament is going to end.
“We’re having a great time, we want it to continue, but it comes to an end so we’ve got one more opportunity to play well. So we want to play with no fear on Saturday, just get out there and play the game.
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“We know South Africa are going to come hard. We’ve got meet their physicality but we are looking forward to that and being able to impose our game on them.
“We can definitely play better, there’s no doubt about it. The players know that. I have been so impressed by the preparation of players throughout the tournament and particularly this week, there’s a steeliness about them but also a nice relaxed feeling because they know they’ve done the work so they can get on with the job.
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“It’s all to happen on Saturday, isn’t it? That’s the great thing. We are like any team, we are a bit anxious, a bit nervous but also very excited about the prospect of playing even better.
“We just have to go out and play. The great thing for us is we know we’ve done the preparation, we’re ready for this occasion. We’ve spent four years getting ready for this occasion.
“That’s why the players can be relaxed, that’s why I can be relaxed because we know we’ve done the work but we are not relaxed about knowing what’s in front of us. We know South Africa’s going to come hard. They’ve got a history of being the most physically intimidating team in the world, so we’ve got to take that away from them.
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“The boys know what’s ahead of them, everyone knows what’s at stake but, because we’ve had such a good preparation, we know we can go out there and play without any fear.
It's official… Saturday's showdown with England in Yokohama will be Rassie Erasmus' last outing as South Africa's head coach https://t.co/jS5gGntrQo
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 31, 2019
“That, generally speaking, the World Cup (final) is between the two best teams in the world, you have to win your pool and you’ve got to win a quarter-final and a semi-final so you’ve got to be at the top of your game.
“That means both the teams mentally, physically and tactically, are ready to go. It’s what happens on the day rather than what happens before the game.”
WATCH: England World Cup winner Neil Backs sits down with RugbyPass to talk about his memories of the 2003 tournament in Australia
Comments on RugbyPass
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