Jamie George has urged his England teammates to show their passion for the jersey in their quest to dethrone the game’s big hitters.
Steve Borthwick’s men host New Zealand on Saturday with the aim of tapping into the feelgood factor generated on their most recent appearance at Allianz Stadium in March when they toppled Ireland.
Outside of that 23-22 victory, England have over the last 12 months been edged by South Africa, the All Blacks twice and France.
With Australia, the Springboks and Japan following New Zealand into Twickenham this autumn, George believes it is time to turn the near-misses into victories.
“We’ll continue to build but ultimately the best way to create a connection with the fans is by winning and that is very much our intention over the next four weeks,” the England captain said.
“The last time we were at Allianz Stadium was Ireland and that’s a game and an atmosphere that I will remember forever.
“For that match 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 that I’m speaking to the boys about, telling them ‘don’t be afraid to show it. Don’t be afraid to show how much it means to play for England’. For me, that is an instant connection.
“Sometimes there are natural reservations because you’re on TV and can’t give too much away.
“As a fan, I wanted to see a reflection of myself in that England rugby team, and enjoyment and passion and pride is something I always relate to.
“What I hope is that 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 have spoken about this week. As long as I am involved in this team I want people to be very aware of that.”
England were edged by a combined total of eight points across two Tests against New Zealand in July and returned home knowing they should have closed out at least one of the encounters.
In a nod to the power brought to bear by the All Blacks pack in the final quarter of both matches, thereby turning the tide on the tourists at a stage when they were trailing, Borthwick has picked eight forwards on the bench to reinforce the battle up front.
“Fundamentally the big takeaway from the series was that we fell into the momentum of the game and allowed ourselves to be dictated to by New Zealand. They controlled the last 20 minutes of both Tests actually,” George said.
“We probably just went with the motion rather than continuing to play big and put our game on the field and attack them.
“If you sit back against any team, especially one of the quality of the All Blacks, you are always going to struggle. That was clear.
“It’s been addressed and a huge learning curve for a young and exciting team. We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
