00:08Steve, congratulations on the win. Can you give us your overview of the game please?
00:12I'm really pleased with the players, the way they've handled the whole week,
00:17coming back, the overnight travel from South Africa into a test week,
00:21into training in one venue for a couple of days and then travelling up to here.
00:26Against a very dangerous Fiji team.
00:29The boards have been incredibly well led by Jamie.
00:32It showed a fantastic intensity at the start of the game.
00:37The scoreline, the ability to get across the try line so many times.
00:44Particularly early in the games, most recently.
00:46I think what was the exception of the season was defensive performance.
00:50Against the Fiji team, no one can score a try from anywhere.
00:55Last week, a number of successful players, a number of line breaks they had.
00:59The players did a brilliant job in how alive they were.
01:05When Fiji don't provide the challenge you might have expected,
01:08how much are you able to learn from your team?
01:18I think what you do is also look at what the team did really well to nullify Fiji's challenge.
01:26That's the way to look at it.
01:27I know that one point of view is always to look the other way,
01:32which is what you've done, but I think the players did a great job at nullifying Fiji.
01:37You head to Argentina tomorrow.
01:38Is it a relief that this five-game losing run is now at an end,
01:42and can this be a springboard for the team to turn a corner?
01:48I fully respect the question and why ask it.
01:52Your job is always to look at the back, and our job is always to look ahead,
01:56and that's why I think the players have done really well,
01:57is to focus on the performers in front.
02:01I think that with the squad building, there's great guys like Jamie,
02:06you've experienced so much test match rugby leading them,
02:09and then I've got a load of youngsters that are really learning every single week.
02:14Steve, probably the one negative was Alex Mitchell going off kick.
02:18Can you confirm what he picked up there?
02:21It looks like a hamstring injury.
02:23For me, I do not know at this stage whether it is a recurrence of the hamstring injury
02:30that he's had a couple of times already this season,
02:32whether it's the same injury or not, I can't confirm that.
02:35Nor the length clearly at this early stage of how long he's going to be absent for,
02:40but clearly it looks like he won't be able to be part of next week.
02:45That's the early indication of that.
02:48And that obviously forced Marcus to come in at scrum half.
02:51What did you make of his performance?
02:54And is he potentially providing a viable option as if you were ever to go like 7-1, for instance?
03:00What you saw today, I think that's certainly a viable option.
03:03He did a brilliant job.
03:04I think that Marcus stepping into nine like that was super.
03:08Slady going to 15, that ability to make interchanges,
03:13the players handling it on the pitch was really immense credit to them.
03:18I think that the other thing I'd say about Marcus,
03:20the other elements of the game, I thought Marcus played really physically today
03:25and in contact in the tackle and seeing him picking up the triangles inside offloads
03:32and Marcus was so alive that he made a lot of good things happen to the team.
03:40Hi, Steve. I know we ask about Henry Pollock all the time,
03:43but you just can't keep him out of the game.
03:45Can you just a word on the performance he produced off the bench?
03:47Just keep it to one word, Steve.
03:51I think Henry is an outstanding player, we've got many real top-quality back row forwards there.
04:00I think it's right that you understand why you focus on individuals.
04:06And I myself have also said we want superstars in our game.
04:10It's also quite right that I focus on the team that creates the opportunities for somebody to go and score
04:15those tries.
04:16And he finished them really, really well.
04:17There's also lots of good work that provided that opportunity that perhaps doesn't get as recognised.
04:25There's been a fair bit of clamour though for him to start games. How do you see that?
04:31Did a pretty good job coming off the bench, didn't he? Pretty good impact.
04:35Do you think he can have that same impact from the start or do you see him as someone who
04:39can do that?
04:40Good.
04:46Steve, what were your impressions of Noah and Ben-Hard's first game and George when he came on?
04:51I think what was really noticeable, and again, when I say this, I don't say this flippantly,
04:57but credit to the man next to me about how he leads the squad and how he drives a connection
05:02within the team.
05:03When he saw BV come onto the pitch for the first time, and I've been fortunate to be a coach
05:10with lots of players winning their first cap,
05:12being a player, what players winning their first cap, seeing him come onto the pitch and the way he was
05:17welcomed
05:18and then the way everybody celebrated with him when he scored his try there tells you what the players think
05:24of BV
05:25and tells you how the players are connected. So I thought he did really, really well.
05:30Noah, he's a real threat, isn't he? He's a real threat with his pace, his size and power.
05:38He didn't just stay on the right wing, did he? He came and moved and roamed onto the side of
05:42the pitch, linked really well
05:43and again, took the opportunity to score very well.
05:48Jamie, you know Noah better than most people. When he got his first touch and he passed the ball inside
05:54to Henry
05:54instead of going for the corner, would he have done that two or three months ago?
05:57It's the first pass I've ever seen him throw, yeah. No, I'm joking. No, he was brilliant.
06:04The impressive thing with Noah is his ceiling is incredibly high. He is still quite raw in terms of where
06:11he's at,
06:11but his appetite to learn, his appetite to get better, you know, he wants to make a big impact on
06:18any game that he plays in.
06:19And, you know, he looked, you know, very much at home in Test Match Rugby today and I'm sure today
06:24is the first of many.
06:32Jamie, in the spirit of looking forward with Argentina next, what are the keys to getting that right?
06:37Completely different atmosphere, country, continent on this sort of mad three weeks?
06:42Yeah, it's like it all comes into it, doesn't it? In terms of, you know, getting the review right, getting
06:47the travel right, getting the recovery right.
06:49I think that's one thing that we did really well this week in terms of getting back from South Africa,
06:54prioritizing recovery,
06:55giving ourselves enough time to sort of refresh emotionally, but also be very clear on where we needed to get
07:01better,
07:01the points that we needed to focus on and sort of take accountability for that.
07:06So something we did really well. And my message to the team in the in the change room there was
07:11that we need to do exactly the same again.
07:13What did you learn? I know you left to go on the Lions tour mid through last year,
07:18but that seemed to be quite a cool tour for the guys that are on that.
07:22And lots of them are now a major part of the team.
07:24Like what did you capture there that you want to recapture, I suppose, or get back to or?
07:30Steve spoke about the like the connectivity within this within the squad.
07:34That was the most connected that, you know, that was a time that we really pushed that.
07:39And it was just a brilliant feeling that we created within that squad.
07:42And, you know, I'm getting a very similar feeling with this squad here now.
07:47So, look, it's a challenging place to go. Argentina are a brilliant team.
07:51It's hostile. It's different.
07:53And lots of the guys that haven't been to Argentina are very excited about that challenge.
07:57What are the unique bits about being an Englishman in Argentina,
08:00particularly if there is a World Cup semi-final on the same week, depending on tonight?
08:04We'll just keep our heads down on that stage.
08:06But, you know, we'll watch it in the team hotel.
08:10It's a unique country. It's a brilliant place to go and tour.
08:14We're going to spend a few days in Buenos Aires and then head up.
08:17So, you know, as ever, you know, we're going to really enjoy being in Argentina.
08:23As you said, there's guys that have got experiences from being there
08:26and the cool things that we can do out there, but also then, you know,
08:28making sure that we get the rugby side of things right.
08:31So, you know, getting that balance is something that we've done really well
08:33over the last few weeks, and I'm sure it will continue next week too.
08:36Just to last on the sort of rugby bit of it,
08:38was there enough sort of content there today that makes you really go,
08:43OK, line in the sand from last week, drawn.
08:46There's plenty to go and build on for next week.
08:49Or was it a little bit unsatisfying because of the way Fiji?
08:54It was a very satisfying victory.
08:57We played very well. We found an advantage in the game early.
09:00We hammered home that advantage.
09:03You know, I think, you know, as Steve said before, when you put a team away like that,
09:07a lot of it's, you know, Fiji didn't turn up maybe, but like we did a lot of things
09:12that were very, very good there that didn't allow Fiji to play the game that they wanted to play.
09:17And I think that in itself is very impressive.
09:19And so I think there's a huge amount for us to be able to take from it.
09:23The most satisfying thing for me is, you know, we wanted to put a bit of a challenge down to
09:28ourselves
09:28in terms of can our set piece really dominate a game consistently throughout 80 minutes.
09:36And I thought we did that and it really laid a platform and gave us an advantage in the game
09:40that we then,
09:41as I said, hammered home and opened up some opportunities later in the game.
09:51Jamie, I'll ask you quickly, before the game, before you went into the changing room,
09:56you seemed to be really forthright with the message that you were giving the players.
09:59You might not remember what you're saying, but can you just give us a flavour of what that tone was?
10:03I just said, how good is this?
10:05How good is it to be in front of a crowd that don't usually get the opportunity to,
10:10to watch this England team play every week?
10:14They might not get the opportunity to come down to Allianz Stadium every week.
10:17Steve spoke about that brilliantly at the beginning of the week.
10:19And I just thought the atmosphere was unbelievable.
10:20It felt like a celebration of rugby today.
10:23And, you know, the Hill Dickinson Stadium is an unbelievable stadium.
10:26It was a privilege to play here.
10:28And I just said, like, this is why we do it.
10:30This is why we work as hard as we do for moments like this.
10:32So let's go out there and put performance on for ourselves
10:35and for all these people that have paid good money to be here.
10:39Thanks, guys.
10:40So, Mixon Open, Pollock and Noah definitely coming through.
10:44So, well, within five minutes, yeah.
10:49No, no, no, we're going to do that.
10:50That's, that's, that's...
10:51I mean, you're the only ones here.
10:52It's true.
10:52You are a little for me with all the reasons why,
10:52but if I know you were so beautiful and cool about this,
10:52I think we're definitely feeling you'reGB Lee after a second.
10:52No, no.
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