Rugby World Cup: England into final after legendary win over All Blacks
England have scored one the greatest victories in Rugby World Cup history, downing the mighty All Blacks to book their place in the final - and the win could have major implications for Australia.
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Rugby Australia’s chances of luring Eddie Jones back to coach the Wallabies are cooked after he masterminded another World Cup shock.
Already the highest paid coach in international rugby, his asking price has just gone through the roof after he led England into their first World Cup final since 2007 with a thumping 19-7 win over New Zealand.
There’s not a Wallaby supporter around who doesn’t love seeing the All Blacks suffer after all the pain they’ve inflicted on Australia over the years, but the way England made it look so easy was a brutal reminder of just how far off the pace the Wallabies really are.
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"We set out to do this four years ago,” Jones said.
“We wanted to the best team in the world. We’re not the best team in the world yet but we’ve got ourselves another week in the comp.”
Beaten at a World Cup for the first time since 2007, the All Blacks had no excuses, admitted they were outplayed by a superior opponent.
“They’re a good team so there’s no shame in getting beat by them,” New Zealand coachSteve Hansen said. “There’s just a lot of hurt.”
While last week’s 24-point flogging against England was humiliating enough, it would have been even worse if the Poms played as well as they did against the All Blacks.
Rarely has a New Zealand team ever looked so rattled as the defending champions were against an English side that could have won by more if not for two disallowed tries, two missed penalties and a fluffed attempt at a drop goal.
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England did get one big lucky break when Henry Slade was allowed to stay on the field after he led with his shoulder in a tackle, an offence that might have earned him a red card earlier in the tournament when referees were clamping down on everything, but they fully deserved their win.
“They played a tremendous game of footy,” Hansen said. “We just weren't good enough so we have to take that on the chin.”
It’s no coincidence that Jones has been involved in three of the biggest upsets in World Cup history: when the Wallabies beat New Zealand in the 2003 semis, when Japan stunned South Africa in the pool rounds four years ago and now in Yokohama.
Each time, he’s shown that the key to winning is to have a varied and adaptable game, a lesson the southern hemisphere teams may all have to relearn if the unthinkable happens and Wales beat South Africa to ensure the first all Northern Hemisphere final.
“I’d like to pay the greatest compliment to New Zealand. They’ve won two World Cups in a row and they have been a great team so we had to dig really deep to beat them,” Jones said.
“We knew we had to come off the line hard and keep taking away time and space from them and we managed to do that.
“I think World Cups are always about defence and our best form of attack is our defence.”
England served notice of their intent when they didn’t stand in a single line to face the haka, and the writing was on the wall for the All Blacks after less than two minutes when Manu Tuilagi crashed over after a flawless series of phases from England.
What happened next caught everyone by surprise.
England didn’t score any more tries but they didn’t need to as the All Blacks contributed to their own defeat by losing their composure - just as they used at every World Cup after 1987 before ending their title drought in 2011.
New Zealand’s only try came gift wrapped from England hooker Jamie George when he overthrew a lineout close to his own line and lobbed the ball straight to Ardie Savea but their reign as world champions is now over.
"It was a big game. It was a World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks. It doesn’t get any bigger at this stage,” England captain Owen Farrell said.
“We felt like we prepared well and we started the game well.
"In all these big games, teams get physical and go at each other from the off and we knew that was going to come our way. We wanted to make sure we were playing that way, too.
"We’ve got a number of ways of playing. We’ve got a big, powerful pack but they can use the ball as well. We play to play to space, and tonight we did that well.
"It’s brilliant to get there. It’s brilliant to be a part of. We’ll enjoy this win first, but we’ll make sure we prepare well (for the final.”
New Zealand captain Kieran Read was shattered by the result.
"It’s hard to put into words what it means, but you’ve got to give the English the credit. They started extremely well and we just couldn’t get into our game,” New Zealand captain Kieran Read said.
"We’ll look at the game and there will be so many what-ifs and things we could have done a lot better. On days like this, you can’t afford it."
England’s powerful lock Mari Itoje created endless problems for the All Blacks, both in the set pieces and the loose, but said it was all just part of his job.
"It was a proper test match. Fair play to the All Blacks, they were the best team in the world for a reason,” he said.
“We really had to play for 80 minutes. I’m thankful to my team-mates and the coaches. It was a good day at the office for us.”
ENGLAND 19 (Manu Tuilagi try Owen Farrell con George Ford 4 pens) bt NEW ZEALAND 7 (Ardie Savea try Richie Mo’unga con) at Nissan Stadium. Referee: Nigel Owens.
Originally published as Rugby World Cup: England into final after legendary win over All Blacks