The world is in their hands

England annihilate Kiwis to seize place in final

EDDIE JONES hailed his England players for beating ‘the God of rugby’ as they booked their place in the World Cup final. After ending the All Blacks’ 12-year unbeaten run in the tournament, the England head coach said: ‘New Zealand are the God of rugby, so we had to take it to them, to try to put them on the back foot as much as we could. They are a

great team. They have won two World Cups in a row. They have got a great coach, a great captain, so we had to battle hard.

‘You always go in with an idea of how you want the game to be, but it never goes exactly like that. ‘You have got to give so much credit to New Zealand, the way they kept fighting right until the end. We had to dig deep to win that game.’

England set the tone from the moment they confronted New Zealand’s players at the haka with a ‘V’ formation.

‘We’ve had two-and-a-half years to prepare for it,’ added Jones. ‘We’ve been unconsciously preparing each game for this game. When you ingrain habits in your players, they’re easier to sustain. We saw some great habits from our players tonight.’

Manu Tuilagi’s try after just 97 seconds ensured a dream start for England, with George Ford guiding them home by kicking four penalties and captain Owen Farrell adding a conversion.

Jones added: ‘I thought Owen and the leaders on the field were exceptional. They kept the team discipline, kept to our game plan, kept attacking where we thought New Zealand were weak and didn’t divert from that.’

Jones was reluctant to enter into the significance of England’s win, with the performance likely to be ranked among the greatest in their history.

And they will now be firm favourites to land a second world crown following a Jonny Wilkinson-inspired success against Australia 16 years ago.

‘It gives us another week, mate. We are here for another week and we are looking forward to it,’ said Jones. ‘ It’s another

week for us.

When we flew out on

September 8, we wanted to be here at the end, and that’s where we are at.

‘We set out four years ago, and we wanted to be the best team in the world. We are not the best team in the world, but we have got an opportunity to play in a game to prove we are, and that is all we are concerned with.’

Jones paid tribute to departing All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen, who leaves his post after the tournament, adding: ‘He is a great rugby man. He’ll go down as one of the greatest All Blacks coaches.’

Billy Vunipola piled praise on the Kamikaze Kids, the wing duo of Tom Curry and Sam Underhill, who blew New Zealand apart.

‘They’re like the Duracell Bunnies, they just go all day!’ Vunipola said with a smile after the win. ‘It allows me to rest, so I can help in other ways.

‘I just kick back and watch them do their thing. The work they put in is quite inspiring for me and the rest of the team. It’s not just the hits, but the turnovers, the work with the ball, and for two lads that are quite young on this stage, I hope they have more caps ahead of them and stay injury-free.’

England are sweating on the fitness of several key players for Saturday’s final.

Jonny May left the field after 44 minutes with a hamstring injury which required immediate ice pack treatment.

Farrell suffered a dead leg during the match,

Kyle Sinckler also limped off while Willi Heinz had a leg strapped up in the closing stages.