ALL-WAYS UNDER HUGE PRESSURE

ALL BLACKS boss Steve Hansen has told Eddie Jones he is wasting his breath playing mind games with the world champions.

Jones lit the blue touchpaper this week, ahead of tomorrow’s heavyweight semi-final in Yokohama, by claiming England had been spied on whilst training.

He then told a New Zealand side, which has won the last two World Cups, that “pressure is chasing them down the street”.

Hansen had his first chance to reply yesterday and used it to dismiss the spying claim as the “best clickbait in the world”.

“Eddie is trying to take pressure off his own side by getting you guys to talk about pressure on us,” he said. “But I’m not buying into it, our players aren’t buying into it.

“We’re always under pressure and Eddie doesn’t need to tell us that. What he needs to work out is how much pressure England are under, because they will have memories of the tournament from four years ago.

“They had a massive disappointment at the last World Cup and they will be under immense pressure themselves. For him to say they have nothing to lose – Eddie doesn’t believe that.”

Hansen (above), who has made one change to his side, preferring Scott Barrett to Sam Cane at flanker, then inferred England could be in trouble if they read too much into their resounding 40-16 quarter-final victory over Australia.

“Sometimes, people will come off the euphoria of winning the quarter-final and start looking ahead at the final,” he added. “I think that is a mistake we have made in the past.

“If you start looking beyond where you’re at, then your mind isn’t where your feet are, and that makes you vulnerable.”

Jones admits a win over the All Blacks would be the football equivalent of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United knocking Liverpool off their perch in the 1990s.

“When you’ve been involved in rugby the country you want to knock off is New Zealand, because they’ve been the best,” he said.

“We’ve got the opportunity to change rugby history on Saturday and the whole team is excited about it.”