England 'must throw caution to the wind' to beat reigning champions South Africa
Maro Itoje of England breaks with the ball during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between England and Fiji at Stade Velodrome
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England's best chance of winning against South Africa is “throwing caution to the wind” and “going for it”, former World Cup winner Jason Robinson has said.
Robinson famously scored England’s only try in their World Cup victory over Australia in 2003.
And although Robinson believes we are huge underdogs, he thinks if England “mix things up” they can beat the odds.
Speaking in an interview with growth consultancy, Champions (UK) plc, Jason, 49, said: “We are certainly going into this as underdogs. South Africa was my choice to win the tournament outright.
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“If you look at their team and the physicality they have got, it’s huge. Probably more than any other team in the competition.
“I think what makes them even stronger is their backline which can cause so much damage. The half-backs have all the skills in the world alongside some tough centres and some outstanding wingers who can make something out of nothing so it will be a huge ask for England.
“But England will have a lot more confidence than they did when they first came into the tournament, being the only northern hemisphere team in the semi-finals is a big achievement.
“I think last week’s game against Fiji was a big one as they were under a lot of pressure as Fiji beat them 6 weeks ago, so that was a big win.
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English winger Jason Robinson scores a try during the Rugby World Cup final between Australia and England in 2003
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“These games, despite not being favourites, are one off games and anything can happen on the day.
“England have some great players and those who played in the 2019 final will want to put that wrong, right.“
Outlining how he thinks England can give themselves the best chance of overcoming the challenge of South Africa he continued: “We must play the opposite way we did in the 2019 final.
“When you play against South Africa you know it’s going to be hugely physical, but you can’t get sucked into a physical game.
“In 2019 we did that; we had a massive win against New Zealand in the semis and we went into the final and we forgot how to play and played into their hands by just trying to take them on physically.
South Africa's Eben Etzebeth celebrates following the Rugby World Cup 2023 quarter final match at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis
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“We cannot go and play conservative; we must throw caution to the wind and try stuff and take them on and chip over the top and put some moves on in the wider channels and try and create something. This is going to be England’s biggest game in a long, long time so I must go in with confidence and go for it. Leave it all out there.”
Explaining how he thinks the game will go he admitted: “I think the way South Africa are playing they will win. I'm not sure England will have enough to test them. But this is why we love sport, I also thought Ireland were going to win and Wales were going to beat Argentina and that wasn’t the case so anything can happen.
“We saw Fiji beating Australia, so it doesn’t always go to form and hopefully England have had a good week and are rested up.
“Every team, as strong as they are, always has a weakness. With a bit of luck England could do it and I’ll be rooting for them.”
Outlining how the players will be preparing for the game he said: “This week is more mental than physical.
England's Freddie Steward is tackled by South Africa's Malcolm Marx during the Autumn International match at Twickenham Stadium
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“As you go further in the tournament the pressure gets bigger. A semi-final is bigger than a quarter final and a final is bigger than the semis so it’s about making sure mentally you are just steady.
“Confidence doesn’t just come in ability; it comes in how your mindset is and going into this game if I was a winger, I’d be looking at the opposite winger I’m playing against and I’d be thinking ‘I’m going to be getting the better of you today’.
“Everybody’s looking at how good South Africa is and what they are doing but for me it would be a case of having a mindset of ‘I need to nullify and be better than my opposite number’.
“There are a lot of outside distractions. The key is to just have this focus now and not to get distracted.”
World Cup winner Jason Robinson was speaking to branding and marketing specialists Champions (UK) Plc. For more details visit championsukplc.com
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