Eddie Jones says someone was ‘definitely filming’ England’s training session on Monday, but he refuses to investigate the matter.
England will clash with the All Blacks in the first World Cup semi-final on Saturday, and Jones says they spotted someone filming them from an apartment block at the start of the week.
‘There was definitely someone in the apartment block [near the training ground] filming. It might have been a Japanese fan,’ Jones said. ‘You just don’t need to do it anymore. You can watch everyone’s training on YouTube. There’s absolutely no value in that anymore.
‘Someone has to ask questions, because the New Zealand media doesn’t,’ Jones added. ‘You guys are just fans with keyboards, so someone’s got to ask them some questions about what’s going on.’
The All Blacks are on a six-game winning streak over England, having last lost to their opponents in 2012. In their previous meeting last year, England let a 15-point lead slip to lose 16-15 in a game where flank Sam Underhill had a potential winning try controversially ruled out by the TMO.
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Jones insisted that the All Blacks would be favourites in the clash in Yokohama on Saturday and would therefore be the team under the most pressure to perform.
‘We don’t have any pressure, mate. No one thinks we can win,’ Jones said. ‘There’s 120 million Japanese people out there whose second team are the All Blacks.
‘The All Blacks have got to be thinking, they’re looking for a third straight World Cup, so there will be pressure there.’
Jones added that the potential of the semi-final being both coach Steve Hansen and captain Kieran Read’s last game with the All Blacks would add even more pressure in the buildup to the match.
‘I don’t think they’re vulnerable but the pressure is real. The busiest guy for them will be [mental skills coach] Gilbert Enoka. They will be talking about it the whole week. It’s potentially the last game for their greatest-ever coach [Steve Hansen], and for their greatest-ever captain [Kieran Read].
‘We’ve been preparing for this game for two-and-a-half years. Even back then we knew that we would play New Zealand in the semi-finals. We believe we’ve built the game to take New Zealand.’
Photo: Getty Images
