Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE FULL ENGLISH..
Jones’ men in final after All Blacks shock
TRY-HERO Manu Tuilagi admitted that his dreams have come true after booking England a place in the Rugby World Cup Final next Saturday.
Now, he says, Eddie Jones (left) and his All Blacks-conquering side need to finish off the job to become world champions for the second time.
“It’s beyond my dreams this, an unbelievable feeling,” said centre Tuilagi, who struck after just 98 seconds, and tormented the two-time defending champions throughout a
famous win. “The All Blacks are an unbelievable team and we gave it everything. This was a massive game for us, but we’ve won nothing yet.”
The All Blacks were seen as unbeatable before Jones’ side took them to the cleaners after first unsettling them by getting up close and personal during their haka.
Joe Marler was told by referee Nigel Owens to give them space while captain Owen Farrell was accused by New Zealand star Aaron Smith of winking at him as they lined up in a provocative
V-formation. And Mako Vunipola revealed it was Jones who devised the idea to “rile” the All Blacks as they performed the traditional Maori war dance.
Vunipola said: “Eddie gave us the idea. We wanted to be respectful, but we wanted to also make sure that they understood that we would be ready for the fight.
“We knew that it would rile them, it probably felt like we disrespected them.
“We meant no offence by it, we just wanted to let them know that we were ready for the challenge ahead.”