England centre Brad Barritt believes the secret to beating New Zealand is to not be overawed by their achievements.
Barritt admits that although people who like to bet on rugby probably won't be backing England when they face the All Blacks at Twickenham on Saturday, he is confident they can hand the world champions their first defeat since August 2011.
On the other end of the scale, however, England head into this showdown on the back of defeats to Australia and South Africa in recent weeks.
"There is no beating about the bush, they are the best team in the world - but no team is invincible," said the Saracens stalwart.
"We don't put any player on a pedestal. We won't go in there thinking they are Gods on a rugby field.
"There's a huge amount of belief in our team. There is something special about each person.
"In order to be here you're a natural born winner and you'll do anything to get to that position to win.
"We're against an opponent that's been unbeaten over the past two years but this is a huge opportunity for us.
"At the end of the day they're just humans with two legs and two arms, albeit performing to the optimum level.
"We need to raise our game and really impose what we can on them and not give them any status that's going to help them," insisted Barritt, who will be looking to prove he and Manu Tuilagi can be an effective attacking midfield pairing, with the duo criticised for a lack of creative flair in recent Tests.
The All Blacks have swept all before them while in Europe this tour, defeating Scotland (51-22), Italy (42-10) and Wales (33-10) and are almost a rugby betting sure-thing away from finishing 2012 unbeaten.
"They're undoubtedly the best attacking team at the moment," added Barritt.
"We take huge pride in what we do on defence. I think Scotland and Wales hung off them and allow them their moves.
"We have a different philosophy - getting off the line and putting pressure on teams.
"You have to do everything as clinically as you can, all the time. There's no reason why we can't pull off an upset."
Comments
LondonWasp says...
@rangdaddy
"Ozzies and Saffers don't do this"............. hahahahahah
Posted 16:37 30th November 2012
rangdaddy says...
@londonwasp - thanks for the very long winded explanation - I bet you wrote it with gritted teeth! If England wins in the weekend wouldn't that be an achievement. I guess it would keep the average one win every 10-15 years going. You can write another post in 2025 glorifying the next win if it happens too. NH teams need to BEAT the ABs on a regular basis, until then don't talk yourself up or try and say its a way to build team morale. Of course teams go out to win, but less talk and more action please - the ABs, Ozzies and Saffers don't do this because they have been the dominant rugby forces for years - end of story you muppet.
Posted 12:42 30th November 2012
nabberuk says...
@ArmchairGeneral
Are you serious, what the hell did you expect him to say. "oh we won't we win". Stop being such a donut!
Posted 20:25 29th November 2012
bokbevok says...
@APV1 thank you for repeating everything i said. Your point is taken and happy to hear i have touched a sore point.
Start winning games and not talking about how close you came may help your cause. England are paying the price for having so many foreign players in the premiership, unfortunately you hear the same old thing because you play and lose the same old way.
Boks are predictable and boring but win most of there games. That said if you are happy with just losing by few points i'm sure other teams will be happy to oblige.
Cheer up, I do love living in England just happy to be a bok supporter
Posted 18:57 29th November 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
ok... but no. Ain't gonna happen without a time machine set to twickenham november 2002.
Posted 16:56 29th November 2012
heathy says...
@ JamieTheProp - Good post matey and there are a lot of intelligent supporters from the Southern Hemisphere that will understand and agree. South Africa had their hardest game against England and both players and coaches admitted that. Didn¿t get out of second gear? Yeah, riiiight. Australia have been poor and had their best game by some considerable margin, against England. However, you and I know that we get a lot of Neanderthals on here that can barely spell let alone know a great deal about rugby. We all know them, jonesy2 is a classic example and now bokbevok has entered the ring parading his ignorance and telling us all what he doesn't know. Ignore them mate as it isn't worth the bother. Everybody else does. If a supposed rugby follower hasn¿t heard of an international player that has been in a team for the whole autumn series then that goes to show what little that person knows about rugby. The case rests, m¿ lord.
Posted 15:54 29th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ ArmchairGeneral - I think you should rephrase that to read,
"jonesy2 - because you dont know much about rugby."
@ JamieTheProp - aren't all props a little odd..?
Posted 15:33 29th November 2012
JamieTheProp says...
I am beginning to get annoyed by the arrogance of some of the AB, SA and AUS fans on here.
Let's get some perspective on this.
A poor (but improving) England team have lost narrowly to two teams ranked higher than them and teams that have, in very recent years, been very, very good sides. Namely South Africa and Australia.
New Zealand (who we haven't played yet) will beat us because they are the best in the world, play stunning rugby and 1-15 are better (with maybe the exception of an odd prop). There is no disgrace in that.
England are a team who have been on the skids for 8 or 9 years and have only started on the right road 10 months or so ago. So they are very much at the start of the journey. A journey that is going in the right direction.
We were poor against a weakened Australia team - but a team who still had many more caps and who, on the day, played well. A young team like this England outfit will have days like that (there is a fragility that comes with inexperience). Even then we only lost by a few points and with better decision making could have won (again experience). And before anyone cries Australia injuries England were also missing players - Foden, Hartley, Lawes, Corbisiero, Wood and Ashton. All of whom are starting 15 players when they are fit.
We then lost to South Africa to the luckiest try I have ever seen and then only lost by the odd point. Hardly a crushing defeat by a team with a much better recent pedigree than this England unit.
I think the All Blacks will beat us tomorrow and have it in them to give us a bit of a rugby lesson - but then they regularly do that to Australia and South Africa too!
AB fans have every right to be superior at the moment - but I don't see any reason for SA or AUS fans to be. We are right on your tails and have all the resources, wealth and playing pool to compete in the near future
Posted 13:22 29th November 2012
tuffnut says...
England have a very good chance of beating the All Blacks this Saturday. Last game of the season/series is often when the All Blacks play their worst. Whether it's due to fatigue, head's in the wrong place thinking about their summer breaks, the tummy bug they've just been hit by, or players playing with injuries (e.g. DC/Mealamu, either way I think England's chances are much better than they've been for a while.
I'm looking forward to the match ups and I hope it's a spectacle with lots of positive rugby.
Posted 12:13 29th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
@bokbevok: agree. Oz and S.Af were not fresh Vs England. ABs are. And Carter back. I say a 25 point win margin. But still agree when farrell says motivation is higher than usual and with Barritt when he says they can win. Its funny how hostile fans get so upset because players say they have a chance to win. The game would not be scheduled if it were impossible.
Posted 12:03 29th November 2012
LondonWasp says...
@RangDaddy
"Typical mouthy NH rugby teams who have terrible records against the ABs - I hope the ABs smashem bro!"
YOU ARE WRONG! think about it you absolute fool. use your common sense. when a NH team plays NZ, and say things like "NZ are not gods, they can be beaten etc" they are NOT really saying that we have the ability to beat NZ at the moment- what they are really saying (or doing) is raising morale of the team before playing NZ. most teams (this is the important bit) are already beaten by the All Blacks BEFORE they get on the pitch because they just accept the inevitable fact that they will loose. What the hell were you expecting- the whole English squad to just bend over and say pre-match, "we can't win this, why even try?" No, what Barrit is saying is neither arrogance, nor being mouthy. he is just trying to give the England to confidence going into a match we definately cannot win- makes sense no? when a tier two team plays against a tier one team in the group stages of the world cup (lets say for example USA vs Australia) USA are never going to win, but will go into the match with a "we can do it!" attitude- this is all Barrit is saying/doing...
on another topic
england women Vs NZ women
23 Nov: England 16-13 New Zealand
27 Nov: England 17-8 New Zealand
I doubt the men can replicate this success!!!!
Posted 11:58 29th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
@Jonsey: because you dont know much about England rugby players.
Posted 11:56 29th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ bokbevok - stop being a prat:
"...boks didn,t play well just enough to win and never out of 2nd gear.
England are just an ordinary team with who knows how many foreign players, speaks volumes for the quality of players you have here."
We all know that's nonsense and if you were dabbling in what the grown ups call "banter", you failed. You mentioned on a different England thread that:
"I can assure you the boks were comfortable and England never look like scoring or winning." Also complete codswallop. A couple of kicks in our favour and some completed passes and we would have won. I'm not suggesting that we were better - see my previous comments (here and elsewhere), just that SA weren't cruising to an easy and simple victory as you suggest.
And the nationality argument has been done to death. To continue to drag it up says more about your insular and myopic view of the world than anything else.
Posted 11:17 29th November 2012
rangdaddy says...
Who knows England may win - it usually happens every 10-15 years - pathetic really that this guy thinks there beatable when England doesn't do it on a regular basis. Typical mouthy NH rugby teams who have terrible records against the ABs - I hope the ABs smashem bro!
Posted 10:34 29th November 2012
WorldWary says...
Of course this All Blacks team is beatable...they can be well off their game like the draw v Australia this year...it can happen to anyone and can esp happen to a collective of 15.
I'm not sure what that proves though...England will win if they play extremely well AND they All Blacks have an off day (we are saying as much ourselves)....big deal, does it mean our autumn campaign was successful, NO. Does it make up for the losses to SA and OZ, NO...does it mean we are finally together and on the right path as a team, NOT NECESSARILY, does it mean we can head into the 6N with confidence...MAYBE, but then judging by everyone bar Frances performance we can do that anyway.
The truth is it means that we beat the All Blacks (and it will be by a few points if we do) on an off day for them, at the end of 11 months of rugby. That will be one loss in 21 matches, a less than 5% return. We are not even close to that, nor look like it...we are a LONG way from the consistency required to win a work cup a-la the 2003 team.
Posted 09:36 29th November 2012
jonesy2 says...
someone says the exact same thing every week. but why is someone who ive never heard of saying it this week?
Posted 09:25 29th November 2012
bokbevok says...
Beatable yes, but never
By England, boks didn,t play well just enough to win and never out of 2nd gear.
England are just an ordinary team with who knows how many foreign players, speaks
volumes for the quality of players you have here.
Posted 08:02 29th November 2012
trianglechoke says...
Rugbylover.....totally agree I'm excited to see England play my Allblacks. Goodluck to both teams, Rugby the MOST Beautiful game ! can't wait !
Posted 05:24 29th November 2012
Oceansnz says...
Hmm yes, NZ will lose at some point but I don't think it will be this weekend.
Posted 03:39 29th November 2012
Timofporirua says...
Brazil loses at soccer, Canada loses at ice hockey, and the All Blacks lose (rarely) at rugby. You only have to look back to Brisbane a few weeks ago to see that they are fallible. A woefully inept Wallaby team came within another penalty of beating the ABs.
England could grind out a win a la 2003 in Wellington, or emulate the French in the 1999 World Cup, throw caution to the wind and beat the ABs gloriously, or they can muddle around, play defensively and be beaten by 20 points.
If I was the England coach I would say don't give away penalties in our half, don't kick long unless you really really have to, and put all the pressure you can on Dan Carter. The Springboks in the 1995 World Cup Final faced a similar dilemma to England on Saturday, and they ended up making a film around that game.
I hope that both sides play attacking rugby and the ABs finally achieve the 100% performance that has eluded them all season, but England did it at Agincourt and Waterloo (with a little help from their friends in Germany), so why not at Twickenham? Those few, those gallant few .................
Posted 21:53 28th November 2012