Marcus Smith says England must light up Twickenham if they are to plunge the All Blacks into darkness this weekend.
Fly-half Smith scored two tries as Japan were put to the sword by an improved England in their warm-up for the big one.
But it was still clunky and behind the public smiles Eddie Jones’ team know much more is required to win on Saturday.
“We’ve got to focus on us, sharpen our skills, sharpen our attack,” said Smith. “It’s brilliant to score 50 points but we left 20 or so out there.
“If we get our game on the park, light up the crowd, get them right behind us singing Sweet Low, we believe we can win.
“If Twickenham is bouncing, right behind us, we know everything is possible and that we’re a tough team to beat.”
After watching his side stick seven tries on the nation he used to coach Jones claimed repeating England’s World Cup win over New Zealand was “not mission impossible”.
He said an All Blacks side beaten four times already this year - and one which only narrowly avoided a fifth in Scotland yesterday - are “there for the taking” if England go after them - and insisted they will do just that.
But he conceded that for that to happen the players must first believe they are up to the task.
There is undoubtedly an aura surrounding a nation England have only ever beaten eight times that even semi-final victory in Yokohama in 2019 has not dispelled.
Listen to Freddie Steward, who watched that game in a student bar and, three years on, goes up against them fresh from his man of the match display against Japan.
“To be able to face the Haka and things like that is just so exciting as the All Blacks are THE team you want to play against,” he said.
“I’ll probably need to get over that stardom [star struck mindset] in the week so I am in a position where I am ready to perform.”
Jones will help in that process and says the key lies in getting the players to understand the parts of their game that are better than New Zealand and where the opposition is weak.
“Even when the All Blacks were winning at 92% they still had weaknesses but you’ve got to be able to find them,” said the Australian.
“Like any team, if you dig down deep enough, make them scratch at the back of their head and think, ‘this isn’t how it’s suppose to be’, you can put them under pressure.
“We were able to do that in 2019 and there’s no reason we can’t do that again.”
That day England suffocated New Zealand with an intensity which never dropped. It was one of the nation’s great performances and they have not been able to repeat it.
Miles off against Argentina last week they were better in patches against Japan, but too often dropped off.
“It’s about consistency of intensity,” said Jones and therein lies the challenge if England are to give captain Owen Farrell a performance worthy of his 100th cap.
ENGLAND - Tries: Steward, Smith 2, Porter 2, Genge, penalty. Cons: Farrell 6. Pen: Farrell 5.
JAPAN - Try: Saito. Con: Yamasawa. Pens: Yamasawa 2.
