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Kyle Sinckler has revealed how a Samurai sword-wielding Eddie Jones inspired England’s weary players to their epic victory over the All Blacks in the last World Cup.
The national coach explained in a book that he used a sword bought in an antique shop in Tokyo to cut up a bowl of kiwifruit for his Red Rose squad, symbolizing how he wanted them to attack New Zealand with extreme aggression. would hit in the 2019 Semi-final. The trick worked as England knocked down their vaunted opponents with a defensive attack, after cutting through them with an early try to set up a historic 19-7 win that went straight into the England rugby folklore.
As one of those in the current squad was on duty for that momentous occasion in Yokohama, Bristol pro Sinckler recalled how a meeting the previous weekend turned the mood into one of near certainty that they would prevail against the holders and tournament favourites. It was a masterpiece of motivational theater from Jones.
Kyle Sinckler reveals Eddie Jones used an unusual tactic to inspire them to a breakthrough win over New Zealand in 2019
“We beat Australia in the quarter-finals in Oita, then we had a team meeting on Sunday, which is very strange,” Sinckler said. “Normally Sunday is a day off, recovery – you never really see Eddie. He called a players meeting at nine in the morning. Everyone was like, “Jesus, what happened here? Did someone do something?!”
“I will never forget that encounter. Eddie laid out our game plan: pressuring them, going after them, moving towards the danger. The message was that this is one of the things they are proud of, but we are going for it. Usually on a Sunday you wake up with “Oh my God how am I going to do this again?”. But after that meeting I felt, “We got this”. It was so special.
“It was a surreal experience because after that meeting we had no doubts that we would win and it was the only game in my rugby career where everything went according to plan. Literally, everything Eddie said would happen, happened.
Sinckler tapped into Jones’ own story of wielding a samurai sword to inspire them
“We were so dominant. We had all the momentum, the game plan was right, they did exactly what we expected them to do, so it was a special day for English rugby, but for rugby as a whole. It was one of the best matches ever.’
Before kick-off against the All Blacks, England set the tone for what followed by getting into a ‘V’ formation facing the Haka, with captain Owen Farrell staring at the opposition from the point of the V and Joe Marler halfway through. line came. to keep an eye on the Kiwis. It was a statement of intent and, crucially, England delivered on it.
When asked what it meant, Sinckler – who will play the Haka again at Twickenham on Saturday – joked: ‘You better play well! When you’re confident you want to do that kind of thing and show the opponent you don’t want to back down, but it’s easy to do that and not back it up with action on the pitch. How many times have we seen teams run to the Haka and New Zealand tack 50 points to them? We felt like if we wanted to do that we had to back it up.
Sinckler (L) related how he emerged from the team meeting with no doubts that they would beat the All Blacks
“For me, the Haka is part of rugby. I don’t see it as intimidating, I see it as an honor to be involved in such an opportunity, playing for my country. I feel that way especially after the last six months I’ve had with my injury. To be there, pain free, playing again and getting back to where I know I can get to, I have the ultimate gratitude for that.”
Sinckler missed the summer tour of Australia as he battled to overcome serious back problems at the age of 29 that he feared would jeopardize his career. To be honest, yes, because I had chronic, chronic pain.
‘Sometimes I thought: ‘Am I ever going to play again?’ I was in so much pain. I couldn’t sit down. I couldn’t put on my shoes and socks. I was literally bedridden for three or four months.’
When he eventually recovered and returned to action for Bristol the next battle was to regain his old form and until recently he struggled to do so. “We were visiting Newcastle a few weeks ago and everyone was saying it was the worst game of my career,” he said. ‘Jesus. But those are the days that make you; Friday nights away in Kingston Park!’
England produced what is arguably their best performance to date under Jones
It has been more than eight years since Sinckler’s first involvement with England, during a tour of New Zealand. He was called up after a handful of appearances for Harlequins and felt that the experience actually set him back in his development. He thought he had arrived safe and sound, and it took him a while to understand that the hard graft had to go on and on.
Since then he has taken on the All Blacks several times, with England and the Lions, and was struck by the ferocity of their play, which is not always widely acknowledged. “It’s easy to see the final product, but as a student of the game, as I am, you see how everything functions,” Sinckler said. “That was one of the biggest eye-openers for me when I first played against New Zealand. “Jesus, these guys are really physical”.
“They have so many X-Factor players wide, but when you pause the game you see Brodie Retallick making great carries, great tips, getting the ball flat, Savea doing the same, Codie Taylor doing the same. The props coming through, Tyler Lomax and Ethan de Groot have really beefed up their scrum and are doing well.
“Those guys who are wide don’t get the ball into space if the others don’t do their job. Dalton Papali’i – how good was he against Wales? They have a great team and have been the standard setters in rugby for so long.’
New Zealand has certainly been the flag bearer for most of the professional era. But England know from their last encounter that they can be beaten and – whether he uses a sword to reinforce the point or not – Jones will hope to inspire them to slice up the Kiwis again this weekend.
After convincingly beating Japan on Saturday, England now has New Zealand in its sights again