They may be unfancied, but the northern hemisphere’s last hope can draw inspiration from their last World Cup semi-final
, Marcus Smith’s lip still fat from one of the numerous whacks he received, and the England coaches have already held a meeting to plot a victoryThey will hold another before the day is out and, while Steve Borthwick had started planning for both potential opponents last week,.
Indeed, the fact that in some quarters England are already being pencilled in for the bronze‑medal match on Friday week suits them. It was a similar, if less pronounced, situation four years ago; New Zealand were favourites in their semi-final but England produced their finest work under Jones and put the All Blacks to the sword. On the topic of swords, Jones brandished one that week and used it to slice a kiwi fruit in half in front of his squad.
Itoje says: “You have to attack it. You have to attack every facet of the game. When you get to the semi-final level of World Cups, you are playing the higher‑quality teams and everything is a contest. Every scrum, every breakdown, every carry, every set piece, you have to make it a contest.
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