Rugby: World Cup master plan? Eddie Jones reveals the 'media strategy' that fooled the All Blacks

England coach Eddy Jones and former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. Photo / Photosport

England coach Eddie Jones has revealed the 2019 Rugby World Cup master plan that helped his side beat the All Blacks.

Jones, known for his outspoken nature and Machiavellian media antics, spoke about the importance of the mental side of rugby and how he 'gamed' the All Blacks ahead of their World Cup semifinal clash.

"The mental side is how you are thinking about the game, and the tactical side is just the employment of those thoughts," Jones told The High Performance Podcast in a wide-ranging interview.

"I've got a guy called David Pembroke in Australia who cultivates the media strategy. And I don't follow it 100 per cent, as some of the ideas are way out here, but he wants to control the environment.

"And the best one was for that New Zealand semi [at the 2019 Rugby World Cup]. We immediately went out on attack at the start of the week; we wanted the New Zealand media to put pressure onto the New Zealand team.

"We called the journalists fans with keyboards, and he created the idea of circling the All Blacks during their haka."

England ended up stunning the two-time defending champion All Blacks 19-7, while their response to the haka generated a lot of buzz in the rugby world.

"I've got another sports psych who is a tactician, absolute tactician," Jones continued. "So he will say, 'they'll be thinking this, you've gotta be thinking this', now how can you employ that. He's got some weird and wonderful ideas. Again, we don't use them all.

"I think that is one of the things is to get that synergy, if that makes sense (between mental side and tactical side).

"I think all the other stuff is the easy stuff. Getting players fit is easy, it's just effort. It's having the right programme, having good coaches."

"On the technical side, at the international level, we don't really coach rugby, we are just trying to get a team organised, thinking the same way."

Jones said his goal is to "coach the perfect game".

"Now, in a professional game of rugby if you can control 50 minutes of the game, you will win the game, and I want a team that can control it for 80 minutes.

"Imagine going out there and you are impossible to play against. Impossible.

"When you've got the ball, they can't get it off you, when they've got the ball, they've got so much pressure they are giving it back to you and that's unrelenting. That would be fascinating."