[ad_1]
Eddie Jones says New Zealand are vulnerable as his England team prepares to face the three-time world champions for the first time since 2019.
“We showed that if you’ve got the right attitude and the right game plan then history can be broken,” Jones said.
“If we go after them then they’re there for the taking – and we’re going to go after them.”
New Zealand, who play Scotland on Sunday, visit Twickenham next Saturday, with England coming into the game on the back of a 52-13 win over Japan.
New Zealand have won their last five matches, but lost six of the previous eight. That run came close to costing Jones’ counterpart Ian Foster his job.
“It’s an opportunity to play against one of the giants of world rugby. For an England player it’s a massive opportunity,” said Jones.
“If you look at the history of the sport, the game’s been going for 150 years and England have won 19 per cent of their Tests against New Zealand.
“We’re looking forward to the opportunity to break history again.
“They’re playing a slightly different style of game to what they used to but guys who played in that game [the 2019 semi-final] – Owen Farrell, Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje, Jamie George – are going to be important in reinforcing to the players that it’s not mission impossible.”
Jones said that his team are on an upward trajectory after they lost to Argentina in a disappointing start to their autumn.
“It’s an improvement. As we said at the start of November, each game we want to get a little bit better and we were definitely better than the Argentina game,” Jones said.
“I thought we played with a lot of purpose and we knew exactly how we wanted to play.”
