Jamie George urges England to show passion and take down world’s best – Irvine Times

Steve Borthwick’s men host New Zealand on Saturday looking to capitalize on the feel-good factor generated by their last performance at Allianz Stadium in March when they beat Ireland.

Outside of that 23-22 win, England have been edged by South Africa, the All Blacks twice and France in the past 12 months.

With Australia, the Springboks and Japan following New Zealand at Twickenham this autumn, George believes it’s time to turn near misses into wins.

“We will continue to build but at the end of the day the best way to connect with the fans is by winning and that is our main intention over the next four weeks,” the England captain said.

“The last time we were at the Allianz Stadium was Ireland and it’s a game and an atmosphere I’ll remember forever.

“For this game, we used a lot of emotion around different elements of the game for different reasons to fuel us – and that was something we did really well.

“The emotional side is often something I talk to guys about, telling them ‘don’t be afraid to show it. Don’t be afraid to show how much it means to play for England. It’s an instant connection for me.

“Sometimes there’s a natural reserve because you’re on TV and you can’t give too much away.

“As a fan I wanted to see a reflection of myself in this England rugby team and the enjoyment, passion and pride is something I will always relate to.

“I hope the fans coming to the game or watching in the pub are aware of how far we’ve come, how much it means.

“We’re out there representing the whole country and that’s something we’ve been talking about this week. While I’m involved with this team, I want people to be very aware of this.

England were bowled out by a grand total of eight points in two Tests against New Zealand in July and returned home knowing they had to finish at least one of the matches.

In a nod to the power the All Blacks pack brought to the final quarter of both games, thus turning the tide on the tourists at a stage when they were trailing, Borthwick picked eight forwards on the bench to bolster the battle up front.

“Essentially, the big takeaway from the series was that we got into the momentum of the game and let New Zealand dictate us.” They actually controlled the last 20 minutes of both Tests,” George said.

“We probably just went with the flow instead of continuing to play big and put our game on the field and attack them.

“If you come up against any team, especially one of the quality of the All Blacks, you’re always going to struggle. That much was clear.

“It’s been looked at and a huge learning curve for a young and exciting team. We will make sure this does not happen again.”