Select Edition

Northern
Southern
Global
NZ
New ZealandEngland

Eddie Jones lifts lid on Rugby World Cup semifinal: How England plotted All Blacks' fall

By Online Editors
Eddie Jones. (Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images for Barbarians )

By NZ Herald

The All Blacks' attempt at a World Cup three-peat ended against Eddie Jones' England. In this extract from his new autobiography 'My Life and Rugby', Jones lifts the lid on the dramatic moments leading up to last month's semifinal.

The players make the long walk from the dressing room to the tunnel. The usual echoing sound of studs clattering down a corridor is silenced by the blue carpet underfoot.

They walk quietly and steadily, one player following another as they head for the cauldron of heat and noise outside. England are led by Billy Vunipola, who wins his 50th cap today, and soon they stand at the entrance of the tunnel.

The All Blacks, led by Kieran Read, wait alongside them. They say nothing and, like the England players, look stoically ahead, trying to ignore each other in these anxious moments.

The Season: Hamilton Boys High School - Episode 3

Just before six in the evening, they get the signal. They walk out into the glare of the flashing cameras and the roaring acclaim of 70,000 spectators inside the stadium, with over a hundred million people watching them on televisions around the world.

Dark clouds roll across the sky and add to the sense of a gathering storm about to begin as the Japanese drummers add to the tumult and the drama.

There is a call for a poignant pause before the anthems. We remember again, in silence, the 87 victims of Typhoon Hagibis and the seven people who are still missing. Another 4000 Japanese people are still living in evacuation shelters. This is real life.

We, meanwhile, are just waiting for a game to start. The seriousness of that game, however, pulses through me after the anthems, as the two teams peel away into their separate halves. We know what is coming and we have prepared.

Our respect for the haka is profound. We understand that the All Blacks, drawing on Maori culture, are laying down a challenge to us.

We also know that they respect any opponent who accepts that challenge.

We gather in a V formation because we are not willing to just stand in a humble line. The V starts on our 10-metre line and stretches into New Zealand territory. Four of our players, with two at the tip of each line of the V, are warned by match officials, who try to push us back into our own half.

Joe Marler, at the end of the left-hand fork of the V, is defiant. He has come closest of any England player to the New Zealand 10-metre line and there is no shifting Joe.

His hands are on his hips and his magnificent beard and Mohican gleam under the lights. Nigel Owens, the referee, again gestures for him to move back. Joe lifts a questioning eyebrow and does nothing. Billy Vunipola, who heads the other V, also refuses to budge.

The crowd makes a ragged roar as people recognise the nature of our challenge. TJ Perenara begins the ancient call of the haka. He is in the midst of the black huddle which fans out into an imposing phalanx with Read at the front. Perenara's voice booms around the stadium, for it has been amplified by television to crank up the theatre both inside the stadium and in sitting rooms and bars around the world.

Tongues stick out as the All Blacks lower themselves into a squatting position and hold their arms parallel to each other in front of their chests.

Perenara cries out even more urgently as his fellow warriors flare their nostrils and get ready to launch into their unified chanting and beating of limbs.



"You want box office? You've got it! How about that challenge from England?"

•My Life and Rugby: The Autobiography by Eddie Jones, Macmillan Publishers, RRP NZ$37.99

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.

In other news:

Trending on RugbyPass

1

'Chaos': Lawes sheds light on the social that ended 2 England careers

2

Ex-Ireland wing brands Six Nations champs 'not that good'

3

Hacjivah Dayimani exits SA following Springbok snub

4

Saracens statement: The outcome of Billy Vunipola investigation

5

Henry Slade and Exeter Chiefs come to terms

More News

Latest Comments

Ex-Ireland wing brands Six Nations champs 'not that good an Irish side'
L
Lou Cifer 12 minutes ago

So if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!

Go to comments
The era-defining moment that set Leinster on the road to success
T
Turlough 17 minutes ago

Not a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.

Go to comments