Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'I'm not going to sit here and say I'll ever get over the World Cup final because I don't think I ever will'

By PA
South Africa's Cheslin Kolbe. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Anthony Watson insists England are armed with ample motivation to lift the Autumn Nations Cup by toppling France at Twickenham on Sunday. Watson says Eddie Jones’ men value the climax to the tournament as an opportunity to win a second piece of silverware immediately after claiming the 2020 Six Nations title and the stage to avenge their only defeat of the year.

ADVERTISEMENT

In addition, the Bath wing embraces the chance for England to prove they have learned from their harrowing World Cup final defeat by South Africa twelve months ago. “This is a big deal. We want to win trophies. It’s something that when you are done with rugby you can say you have won,” said Watson, who made his comeback from an ankle injury against Wales last Saturday.

“It’s irrelevant whether it’s the Nations Cup or the Six Nations, a tournament that has just been made or one that has been there for however many years. It’s still an opportunity to win a trophy. Also, putting yourself in finals is where you want to measure yourself as a player. It’s the highest pressure game you can play in and it’s a real test of you as a player and as a team.”

Video Spacer

Eddie Jones sets the scene as England prepare to host France on Sunday

Video Spacer

Eddie Jones sets the scene as England prepare to host France on Sunday

The Autumn Nations Cup has struggled to capture imaginations due to the focus on defence and kicking and is not helped by France being forced to field a shadow team for what should have been a blockbusting climax due to an agreement with their clubs.

“It’s definitely a big deal, irrelevant of how it is portrayed and irrelevant of all the talk about what team France are putting out. It’s a big game,” said England winger Watson. “There is loads of stuff that could motivate the lads this week. 

“It’s a final and there is a trophy to be won at the end of it. In the previous final we played, we didn’t win. It’s about going out there and getting used to these finals and putting our game plan into force which is something we felt we didn’t do in the last final. The lads will not be short on motivation at all. We lost to France in the Six Nations in February and that also helps the motivation.”

Watson admits he is unlikely to ever recover from the 32-12 defeat to South Africa in Yokohama, a match England entered as clear favourites having crushed New Zealand a round earlier. The visit of France to Twickenham is their first winner-takes-all match since and they have been drawing on the calamity against the Springboks to train their preparation for the concluding match of 2020.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’m not going to sit here and say I’ll ever get over the World Cup final because I don’t think I ever will,” Watson said. “That’s because of the amount of hard work that went into getting into the position we were in and falling at the final hurdle. Potentially if I get another opportunity to win it.

“We felt very confident going into that game. It’s difficult to put your finger on exactly what went wrong. We haven’t focused directly on the tactics of that final, more that we were favourites and that we didn’t do what we said we were going to do in the week. There were issues with the training week.

“They were minute things or things that we thought were minute that probably should have been spoken about that we didn’t speak about. It was probably just an edge, those one per centres in training. It was tough.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit
Search