England vs New Zealand: Why Eddie Jones and his team believe ahead of Rugby World Cup date with destiny

England have the opportunity to bring New Zealand’s World Cup run to an end in full knowledge that they may never have a better chance to do so again

How do you end a dynasty? Often, it is by starting your own. The iconic Australian cricket team followed the great West Indies side of the 1980s, Manchester United picked up where Liverpool left off in the 1990s, and Mercedes have done to Red Bull what Red Bull did to Ferrari. Each one on their own, a dynasty.

But no one has ever stopped New Zealand’s reign. Even when the All Blacks went through their barren run of five World Cup failures in a row, they remained the dominant force in between. No other team has achieved what the All Blacks have over the last 32 years and beyond.

So how do you end a dynasty? That’s the question that England – and specifically Eddie Jones – has been asked over and over again this week. If his team are to live up to his expectation that they can and will win the Rugby World Cup, that is exactly what they have to do on Saturday.

“When you’ve been involved in rugby the country you want to knock off is New Zealand, because they’ve been the best,” Jones said. “And the reason you’re involved in this game is you want to be the best. You’ve got the opportunity to change rugby history on Saturday and the whole team is excited about it.”

Most teams are daunted by this challenge – or by the aura that surrounds the idea of the All Blacks. Ireland were the most recent side to fall into this trap, having lost last weekend’s quarter-final before it had even kicked off.

But can the same be said of this England side? It is impossible to tell, to be quite frank.

England and New Zealand have played each other just once in the last five years, a highly-charged Twickenham encounter that saw the home side race to a 12-0 lead only to succumb to a 16-15 defeat. New Zealand were the better team on the day, but what England did that November afternoon was prove that the All Blacks are vulnerable, if not beatable.

The difference is that 12 of Steve Hansen’s side already know what it takes to deliver on the biggest stage, having been part of the squad that won the last World Cup on English soil. That is not in an autumn international, or a summer Test match. It is the World Cup, and that is where the pressure builds on England. Hansen was all too pleased to point it out in response to Jones’s barbs earlier in the week that they were being “chased down the street” by the pressure to win a third consecutive Webb Ellis Cup.

“We’re under pressure all the time,” said Hansen. “I think early in our history, we ran away from it so it was chasing us down the street. But these days, we’ve had to acknowledge it’s there; now we’re expected to win every game whether it’s a quarter-final, semi-final or just an ordinary Test match. So there is pressure; it’s a big game.

“But it would be naive to think that there’s not pressure on both sides and, when you can publicly acknowledge that it’s on you, then there’s an awareness – and that same pressure’s running down the same street [Jones] is on. He’s trying to take pressure off his own side by getting everyone to talk to us about pressure.

“A smart move, but I’m not buying into it, and our players aren’t buying into it. We know we’re under pressure, we don’t need Eddie to tell us that.

“What he needs to work out is what are England going to do about the pressure they’re under. Because they’ll have memories about a tournament four years ago that didn’t go that good –they’ll be under immense pressure themselves.”

Hansen and Jones may be good friends in and out of the game, but this felt like something personal for the Kiwi coach – not with the Australian but with England as a whole. It felt like Hansen was trying to say if you want to take us down, you better not miss.

In the past England have missed – and missed badly – but what Jones is pinning his hopes on is that each time they’ve done so under his watch, there has been a way back to the right path.

Jones knows his side may never have a better chance to beat the All Blacks (Getty)

“Our players have played a lot of big games,” he responded. “Every game they play in the Six Nations the other country is coming for them. We play Scotland at Murrayfield, they come for us; Ireland at Lansdowne Road, they come for us. Thirteen of our players were involved in the Lions tour. They have big match experience.

“This is a big game, let’s not doubt that. But the players have had big match experience. They’ve failed, they’ve had success and that’s one of the things I like about this team. If you look over the four years, we’ve had a lot of success, but we’ve had failures. We’ve had to learn from those wins and from those losses, and Saturday it’s going to be tested again.”

And the biggest lesson along the way?

“When we played New Zealand in November. You’ve got to be alive in every moment of the game and there were times when we weren’t, and we allowed them back in the game. That’s the greatest lesson of all.”

But the time for lessons is over: it’s exam season, and England face the test they’ve been readying themselves for for two and a half years since the draw was made in Kyoto. Ever since that day, Jones has been targeting this game in the belief that if they can ace this one, they will finally be the best team on the planet, and the truth of it is that they will never have better ingredients to beat the All Blacks than they do now. When you speak to the players, you get the sense that they know that.

It is a remarkable feat that the same 31 players named two months ago by Jones to embark on this journey remain the 31 still here, all fit for selection for the penultimate weekend of the tournament. No other team left in the tournament can boast such consistency.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the squad, and the work they have been putting in,” said captain Owen Farrell. “For it to feel the way it has felt up until now, it takes 31 players, and we have got 31 players that have enjoyed the time here, enjoyed the experience of the World Cup, enjoyed spending time together and enjoyed the rugby that’s been out there on the field.

“It takes some work, that – it doesn’t just happen and the full 31 lads that have been involved in that have each individually played a massive part in it.”

Now they must all play a part in their biggest achievement yet: beating the best. They may never have a better chance to do so, but while that does not at all mean they will do, that sliver of expectation, rather than hope, makes Saturday’s clash feel like the final that never was.