Eddie Jones will send his England side into battle against Australia amid a call to arms to survive their do-or-die World Cup encounter.
Jones has dropped the in-form George Ford for Saturday’s quarter-final at Oita Stadium and moved Owen Farrell to fly-half as part of a beefed-up midfield that includes Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade.
It is a conservative selection for a head coach who has staked the success of his entire England reign on the performance at Japan 2019.
“Tournaments are about – and particularly a World Cup is about – a team sticking together,” he said.
“The rugby in a World Cup is pretty simple. You don’t see brilliant rugby in World Cups.
“You see teams that are able to do things over and over again well, deal with the intensity, application, work hard for each other – that wins World Cups.
“I can’t recall a brilliant team winning the World Cup. Tough, hard teams that stick together win it.
“Maybe the only one is New Zealand in 2015. They were miles ahead of everyone. Apart from that…”
