One of the moments of the Rugby World Cup came prior to the semi-final clash between England and New Zealand when the 'flying V' confronted the haka. Now the players involved have explained why they did it.
Eddie Jones' side took the distinct approach to face the All Blacks pre-match ritual in an arrowhead formation for which they were subsequently fined.
At the time, referee Nigel Owens had tried to move their players back behind the halfway line but they ignored this instruction.
Speaking on ITV's The Jonathan Ross Show, Ben Youngs, Tom Curry, Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marler explained where the idea came from and how it went wrong.
"It is a war dance. You need a response to it. That's what we did to show them we were ready," Tuilagi said.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs went to reveal the actual plan was for a semi-circle but some players found it difficult to follow.
We met the night before, planned it the night before. We said look it is a challenge, we want to face the challenge and make sure they know we are up for it. We said let's get a semi-circle and a few lads were confused by that. So we said look this is where you stand...
On an English chat show, England players reveal their V-shaped response to the Haka was a mistake.
And it was all Joe Marler's fault!
(Via The Jonathan Ross Show) pic.twitter.com/5jtDRzHfxb
— ESPN Scrum (@espnscrum) November 8, 2019
They went on to win the game 19-7. As for the fine, they all agreed that it would be left to Joe Marler to pay it.
