Countdown to the autumn international series Get fit or forget about winning the World Cup!
RUGBY UNION All Blacks bruised by no holds Baa-Baas ENGLAND BOSS JONES: WE NEED TO SHAPE UP Hard day in Court
ALL BLACKS boss Steve Hansen reckoned his world champs learned a lesson after struggling to put away a team that had only been together for five days.
The Kiwis had a second-string side out but on form should have run up a cricket score against a scratch outfit. The Baa-Baas led 17-5 after half an hour before lack of preparation time counted against them, but they gave the visitors a scare at Twickenham.
The Baa-Baas were good value until the All Blacks scored three second-half tries in three six minutes to virtually put the game to bed.
Hansen said: “We got caught up a little bit in the whole festival atmosphere. With the amount of talent we have out at the moment, there was a lot of learning for us.
“If you look at the side that ran out – if you had picked that at the start of the season you would be a miracle selector.”
Kiwi big guns like Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock, Aaron and Ben Smith and Ryan Crotty were all missing but they still have plenty of ammunition.
But this was more like a New Zealand trial than a full-on match with 10 Kiwis in the BaaBaas’ starting line-up but 62,546 still turned up to watch.
The hat-trick of tries from centre Ngani Laumape, flanker Sam Kane and hooker Nathan Harris (right) from the 52nd minute on gave the All Blacks a 31-17 lead.
The Barbarians were robbed of one score, for hooker Akker van der Merwe, by the TMO but fullback George Bridge got them m to within nine points with his lastminute score.
Baa-Baas coach Robbie Deans said: “This is the way rugby should be.”
Australia beat Japan 63-30 in Yokohama. EDDIE JONES will pick the brains of one of England’s 2003 backstage heroes as he turns the heat up in a bid to make his side the fittest in the world.
Jones has been in contact with Dave Reddin, known as “Otis”, who was national fitness coach to Martin Johnson’s legends when they triumphed in Sydney.
Aussie Jones has identified fitness as one of England’s weaknesses as he enters the next phase of preparing for the 2019 World Cup with the autumn internationals.
Fourteen years ago, Reddin’s methods were way ahead of the rest, but Jones knows England’s main rivals have overtaken them.
Dumb
The Aussie fears England are nowhere near fit enough to lift the trophy in Japan and is meeting experts from all over the world to put it right.
Jones said: “Dave is a brilliant operator now with the FA, he’s someone that we’ll consult.
“In America, we’ve been to the University of Oregon to see Jimmy Radcliffe, one of the most brilliant strength and conditioning coaches, we’re getting him to come over to look at what we are doing. We’re just trying to find people that are smarter than us. “We’re always looking for advice from outside because there are always smarter people and we’re not afraid for them to tell us we’re dumb.
“We’re not fit enough to win the World Cup – and we want to win the World Cup. You don’t have to be fit enough now to win the World Cup, you have to be fit enough to win the World Cup at 19:59 on November 2, 2019.”
Reddin (pictured right with England football manager Gareth Southgate) left the RFU in 2006 and worked with the British Olympic Association before joining the FA in 2014.
England kick off with games against Argentina next Saturday, followed by clashes against Australia and Samoa.
Radcliffe will be with England the week before the Samoa game as Jones puts together his master plan.
He is convinced the game is changing and that could be bad news for the big boys in the front and second rows, who are in for a beasting.
Jones added: “In the tight five, the game is going very much towards repeat intensity. Repeat accelerations, repeat collisions – it is how quickly you get off your feet and get involved.
Changes
“It’s working individually with the players and getting the players to i ndividually understand changes t hey have to make. Some have been in the game 10 years – and they have to change how they train. The World Cup is the only time you have the team for three months. Sides go to it either over-prepared or under-prepared. It is getting that balance right. How do you get it right? “Speak to a s many smart people as you can, work out a plan, speak to players and get the balance right between physical training, t actical training and rest.” COURTNEY LAWES has warned Wales that England will not be taking any prisoners at a oneoff training session in Bristol.
The Northampton lock will join the rest of his pack in live scrum and line-outs tomorrow all refereed by top whistler Nigel Owens.
Eddie Jones concocted the plan and Steve Borthwick, an assistant to Wales boss Warren Gatland on the Lions tour, brokered the deal.
The two head coaches want live practice against international opposition – and Lawes reckons it will be a no-holds-barred session.
Lawes, 28, said: “It will be full on. We always have teams that we play against in training. So it’s a bigger version of that.
“I know a few of the Welsh boys now from the Lions and hope we all get something from it.
“It’s a good idea, but we have to make sure our egos don’t get in the way of the session.”