England host New Zealand at Twickenham in a huge clash next weekend
(Picture: Getty Images)Eddie Jones has told England that beating New Zealand is “not mission impossible”.
England will host New Zealand at Twickenham next Saturday, with head coach Jones determined his players will not be overawed by the mighty All Blacks.
England thrashed Japan 52-13 at Twickenham to set their Autumn Nations Series back on track, running in seven tries and producing a much-improved attacking performance.
Guy Porter and Marcus Smith both bagged try braces, while Freddie Steward and Ellis Genge also crossed, with a penalty try rounding off the rout. Smith and Farrell clicked into gear at 10 and 12, with England atoning for last weekend’s 30-29 defeat by Argentina.
England overpowered New Zealand 19-7 in the 2019 World Cup semi-final – and Jones will tell his players to draw on that victory in west London.
“It’s an opportunity to play against one of the giants in world rugby,” said Jones. “They are in a redevelopment period of their game.
“We’ll see them play Scotland on Sunday and have a chat about how we play against them after that.
“It’s a massive opportunity for an England player. England have won 22 per cent of Tests against New Zealand. So there’s a narrative about the game that says England can’t beat New Zealand.
“But in the 2019 World Cup we showed that if you’ve got the right attitude and the right gameplan that history can be broken. So we’ve got a great opportunity this week to break history.
“They are playing a slightly different style of rugby from what they are used to, but we have a number of players who were influential in that World Cup match in Japan.
“So Owen Farrell, Mako and Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje, Manu Tuilagi and Jamie George for example will be important in reinforcing to the players that it’s not mission impossible.
“If we go after them, they are there for the taking – and we’re going to go after them.”
England were far more fluent in attack and far more physically imposing against Japan than in the chastening Pumas loss.
Skipper Farrell knows England will have to raise their game once more to beat the All Blacks, but was pleased with the progress at least against Japan.
“It felt more like us, more like what we’re capable of,” said Farrell. “We aren’t there yet, and we’ve got a few things to tidy up.
“But the intent to get the best out of ourselves, I thought that was miles better today. We’ll see where we can take it now. It was a short turnaround and a big shift in attitude.
“And we’ve got seven days together now to see how much closer we can get, how much tighter we can become as a team.”
