2019 Rugby World Cup: Owen Farrell's smirk, Joe Marler's fine and a V-sign - The inside story of England's response to the All Blacks haka

England players watch the All Blacks perform their haka during the Rugby World Cup semifinal at International Yokohama Stadium. Photo / AP

England set the tone for their semifinal win prior to kick-off, opting for an unusual response to the New Zealand haka, and facing it down in a V-sign instead of simply standing before their opponents. The Telegraph's Gavin Mairs takes a look at who was responsible for the idea and the thinking behind it.

The idea

Many teams have tried a defiant response to the haka but few have reaped any rewards - usually, such acts of defiance serve only to antagonise the All Blacks and is the prelude to a slaughter.

England's response, however, was different - not only was it intimidating in its own right, but it was backed up by a display to match.

The idea for England to arrange themselves in a V-formation, with Owen Farrell at its deepest point in the middle and Joe Marler and Billy Vunipola at the far tips of either flank, came - inevitably - from Eddie Jones.

England head coach Eddie Jones. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"Eddie gave us the idea," said Mako Vunipola.

"We wanted to be respectful but we wanted to also make sure that they understood that we would be ready for the fight."

The refusal to move

Referee Nigel Owens and assistant Pascal Gauzere ask the England players to move back beyond the halfway line. Billy Vunipola and Luke Cowan-Dickie all refuse, as does Marler on the other side of the V.

"Joe said he got confused!" Mako Vunipola said.

England's response to the haka surprised the All Blacks. Photo / SPARK SPORT

"He thought he was supposed to go all the way around them [in a circle] and go to their 10-metre line. Because of that, he's the one who has to pay the fine. He dishes it out a lot so the boys would be more than happy if he has to pay it."

The smile

Owen Farrell was key.

Not only was he the central figure in England's V, he also set the tone by smiling defiantly.

"We wanted to send a bit of a message ourselves," said George Ford.

English captain Owen Farrell smirks as he watches the haka. Photo / Getty Images

"That's what they do when they're doing the haka. They're laying it down, so we thought, we're coming back for you a bit."

The challenge accepted

Some of the All Blacks smiled as they walked away from the haka.

England knew the challenge had been accepted.

"It was just about trying to shock them," Billy Vunipola said.

"The haka is a challenge and we wanted them to know that we accepted and respected the challenge, but also that we didn't want to just take it. We put accountability on ourselves to back it up and I thought we did. We knew it would rile them, it probably felt like we disrespected them. We meant no offence by it, we just wanted to let them know that we were ready for the challenge ahead. They let us know in the first couple of contacts."

The plan worked - within 98 seconds, Manu Tuilagi had powered over for the opening try.

As New Zealand wing George Bridge put it: "They came out with a hiss and a roar and gave us a punch to the nose."

Tuilagi's try gave England control of the match, and they never simply never let it go.

"We just wanted to come at them early," said Tom Curry.

"That's the first bit of the game so it's about trying to set a standard early. They can't score tries off the haka. We went in there knowing we weren't going to take a backward step. We wanted to show that from the outset. That's the first moment you get in front of them so it was important to show we weren't taking a backward step."

Line-out domination

The line-out was supposed to be an area in which the All Blacks would come after England, having selected Scott Barrett on the blindside flank to give them four jumpers.

And yet England managed to do a very New Zealand thing by attacking their opponents' perceived area of strength, with a line-out plan for which Steve Borthwick must take huge credit.

Maro Itoje called superbly, while it seemed England were able to read the All Blacks' throw again and again.

The tone was set in the 11th minute when Itoje knocked the ball out of Scott Barrett's hands and again, in the next minute, when England did not compete as Sam Whitelock collected the throw but then won the turnover when Itoje and Lawes wrapped up Codie Taylor.

Maro Itoje wins another lineout against the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport

The trend continued five minutes later when Lawes stole Taylor's throw to the tail.

Then just a minute later, the ball was won securely by Barrett at the front but after setting up the maul, England manage to win the turnover when Itoje powered his way through bodies to wrap up the ball.

New Zealand tried to quicken their throw-in to adapt, only for Itoje to steal another, when Taylor slightly underthrew to Kieran Read.

England did concede a try when their own line-out malfunctioned once, with an overthrow allowing Ardie Savea to steal the ball and score.

But by then the damage had been done.

England had made the decision to bring Barrett into the back row appear to be a mistake, not a threat, and they enjoyed good possession from their own throws.

"In the line-out, a lot of the time it is the locks who get up, but the guys who make it work are the props, the flankers, their movement off the ball, their movement to lift. There was a big buy-in this week," Itoje said.

"Steve Borthwick has made a career of line-outs. He is the professor. If there was a PhD in line-outs he'd be a double PhD."

Dominating the breakdown

The knock-on effect of England's line-out dominance was the luxury of unleashing Tom Curry and Sam Underhill to spearhead their side's brutal assault on the breakdown.

England's strategy had been to "take the energy" out of the All Blacks' attacking game by winning the collisions, both through the carrying power of Mako and Billy Vunipola, Curry, Manu Tuilagi and the jagged, elusive running of Anthony Watson.

Underhill and Curry's breakdown work also denied the All Blacks the ability to play their attacking shapes on the front foot.

England's Sam Underhill runs at the All Blacks defence in Yokohama City. Photo / AP

"The game plan was to get round the corner and try and go at them," Mako Vunipola said.

"We managed to keep them off the breakdown. We knew the pack had to do the hard yards."

Brother Billy said: "The biggest thing was trying to dominate the collisions. If you get them on the back foot rather than clearing out, going forwards they have to go around and we are on the front foot."

That breakdown pressure forced the All Blacks to concede 11 penalties to just six by England.

Defence

The bedrock of the victory was again England's defensive display, and the fact the George Ford and Owen Farrell topped their side's tackle charts, with 15 apiece, says everything about the intensity and ferocity of the side's commitment to the cause.

"They have threats everywhere. They have strong ball-carriers, players with amazing feet and an awesome kicking game," said Itoje.

"They are a quite complete team in terms of analysing threats. You just have to be switched on for the whole thing."

Billy Vunipola hailed John Mitchell's impact as defence coach.

Eddie Jones and John Mitchell. Photo / Photosport

"I think Mitch has been unbelievable, not just in terms of defence, but in how he brings the team together," he said.

"He is very concise with the points that he makes. He is always willing to learn from the players.

"When there is more trust in the players from the coaches then we want to repay that trust on the pitch."

Selection

Eddie Jones pulled off a masterstroke in returning to the Ford-Farrell axis, yet it was the composition of his bench that proved critical.

Jones revealed that he actually selected his replacements first before considering his starting XV, because of the importance of containing the All Blacks in the final quarter.

"Their role was always going to be to win the game," Jones said.

"We wanted a set-piece focus. We thought in the last 20 minutes the set-piece would be more important, so we picked our strongest set-piece finishers."