Earl and England look ahead to Rugby World Cup semi-final
Maro Itoje has issued an eve-of-battle rallying cry ahead of his team’s Rugby World Cup semi-final with South Africa, telling England this is their moment. Itoje, who will have Leicester rookie George Martin alongside him in the second row, believes England have it in them to upset the World’s No 1-ranked side at the Stade de France.
But that is only if they rise to the occasion. “I feel we haven’t seen the best of us yet. I believe the best is yet to come. And I believe that if we put our best out on the field, we are going to be celebrating on Saturday night,” said Itoje.
“There’s a different feel this week. There’s a heightened sense of awareness, a heightened sense of what needs to be done. When you get to these games, a lot of people say, ‘it’s just another game’.
“This isn’t just another game. This is a special game. You don’t get many opportunities like this. It is about us seizing the moment. Obviously they are the current world champions, they’ve had a very good World Cup.
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“But we’re not talking about a team that has never lost, we’re not talking about a team that is without fault. They are a good team but so are we.
“For us, it is just about imposing our game. We don’t want to sit back and just watch them do their thing. We want to be England rugby.”
Martin, 22, will start just his fourth Test for England with Joe Marler also promoted and Freddie Steward returning at full-back. “I know we’ve got a great group of players who care deeply about representing England,” said head coach Steve Borthwick.
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“I want to make sure they put in a performance we’re all proud of and our supporters are proud of on Saturday night.”
There is no Marcus Smith as he is still going through the return-to-play protocols after showing concussion symptoms following last weekend’s quarter-final.
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