The Mail on Sunday

KYLE HIGH CLUB

England’s ‘Runaway Rhino’ sets up heavyweigh­t semi-final with All Blacks

- Sir Clive Woodward

England 40 Australia 16

NEVER underestim­ate the value of momentum. England may face a massive task in tackling holders New Zealand but they have built up a huge head of steam after that emphatic quarter-final win over Australia.

Everything is coming to the boil nicely and sometime soon this England side is going to produce a performanc­e for the ages. This Saturday would be the perfect time.

As Eddie Jones said straight after the game, England still haven’t produced their very best and he most certainly wasn’t playing mind games or being falsely modest.

England unquestion­ably have more gears and they will need them against an in-form New Zealand who were irresistib­le against, it has to be said, an extremely poor Ireland team who confirmed rumours of their decline.

New Zealand were superb but in truth they haven’t yet been fully tested in this tournament since their opening game against the Springboks a month ago.

The stars do seem to be aligning a little for England. Eddie has 31 fit players to pick from so he has all sorts of options. Also, New Zealand will rightly be perceived as favourites. Brilliant, play on that underdog label a little

Eddie has also been lucky with avoiding major injuries, but luck has played no part in avoiding yellow and red cards. Their tackling technique has been exemplary all tournament — low, arms wrapped well timed and strong.

They are helped in this by the Kamikaze Kids, Tom Curry and Sam Underhill, neither of whom are giants and both go in low naturally. They are also of the modern generation with habits not so i ngrained. They have adapted quickly to the new reality.

Somebody has done a brilliant job with the squad generally over the summer in getting England’s older players to refine their technique and as far as is humanly possible.

They have taken the head high, or even neck high tackle out of the equation and that means they can defend with confidence — and keep 15 guys on the park.

Although this week is different — World Cup semi- finals don’t come around very often — England must do nothing differentl­y. They need to tick over quietly early in the week with a couple of short, high quality sessions and avoid distractio­ns and controvers­y at all cost.

What do I mean by distractio­ns? Media requests increasing tenfold, family and friends arriving from home and all of them need tickets. Sponsors and other commercial interests want to get in early with proposals before the job is done.

Everything has to go on hold. When I was involved with the GB team at London 2012 we brought in extra personnel to help competitor­s whose l i ves were changing overnight but still had events to compete in.

England also still have plenty to work on. The fact is they won 40-16 on just 36 per cent possession and if New Zealand find t h e ms e l v e s with 64 per cent on Saturday they are unlikely t o be so accommodat­ing and muddle headed as the Australian­s, who kicked the ball away aimlessly on occasions.

All eyes are on next week but it would be remiss not to pause for a minute to reflect on yesterday’s stunning victory.

Eddie’s bold but well thought out selections worked a treat. Bringing Mako Vunipola back for his first start since February, after his injury problems, opting for the tackling power of Courtney Lawes at lock, moving Owen Farrell to 10 in place of the in-form George Ford, bringing in Henry Slade at 13, shifting Manu Tuilagi to 12. Rarely as a coach do all your calls come off, let alone in a World Cup quarter-final.

And finally, take a bow Kyle Sinckler, not only for general play and wonderfull­y-taken try but for your discipline and focus.

The Aussies tried to wind him up from the start but Sinckler was ready for it — he took it with a smile and got on with his work. If England can collective­ly keep doing that they can beat New Zealand and win the World Cup.

 ??  ?? GRIN AND TONIC: Kyle Sinckler is all smiles after diving over for his try in England’s 40-16 win
GRIN AND TONIC: Kyle Sinckler is all smiles after diving over for his try in England’s 40-16 win
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