All whites shock All Blacks with rip-roaring performance

● England coach Eddie Jones urged his players to change history and they duly delivered a performance for the ages when they knocked the All Blacks off their perch and out of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) yesterday.

England, who won 19-7, will meet either SA or Wales who play each other in the same stadium today in next Saturday’s final.

It was New Zealand’s first defeat in the RWC since France dumped them from the tournament at the quarterfinal stage in Cardiff in 2007.

England answered Jones’s call and proved great disruptors, even before the start. Instead of standing shoulder to shoulder to face the Haka, they spaced out in an arrow head, with at least two of their players taking up position inside the All Blacks’ half.

If England came to disrupt, they gloriously achieved that objective and to be fair, this could have been a bigger beating. England had two tries disallowed, and missed two penalty attempts and a drop goal.

It was a rousing display from the start in which they breathtakingly moved the ball across the pitch. When they didn’t have the ball they hurried and harangued the All Blacks. Their rush defence constantly put the All Blacks under pressure. Beauden Barrett and Sam Whitelock were the recipients of thumping tackles in the second half.

England delivered some devastating body blows. The All Blacks who were in search of a third straight RWC title, were enervating throughout. The former champions looked beat for most of the match and appeared listless.

It was the men in all white who held their arms aloft at the end.