LONDON - Maro Itoje believes England can emulate one of their best performances when they face New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.Maro Itoje believes England can emulate one of their best performances when they face New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.
In 2019, England beat the All Blacks 19-7 in a Rugby World Cup semi-final to end the then two-time defending champions reign as the global kings of the sport.
But in four meetings with New Zealand since that memorable game in Yokohama they have come up short, albeit they have lost their last three Tests against the All Blacks -- all in 2024 -- by a combined margin of just 10 points.
England, however, are now on a nine-match winning streak against all opponents.
Yet in 46 Tests with New Zealand dating back to 1905, England have won just eight, lost 36, and drawn the other two.
Itoje, now the England captain and a survivor, along with veteran fly-half George Ford, from that memorable success in Japan six years ago, said: "At that stage of the journey of the team in 2019, we were ready for that sort of challenge.
"We felt that if we were aggressive and accurate in what we do, we would be able to get them.
"It was one of those weird games where they had periods on top, but it felt like there was only one outcome of that game. Hopefully we can do something similar this weekend."
The 31-year-old Saracens lock added: "New Zealand are a good team, no doubt about that. They possess talent and accuracy and power that's good enough to hurt any team, but we're ready to take that next step. We have a clearer understanding of how we want to play.
"We have more belief in what we do and how we do it."
England suffered seven defeats in 11 games in 2024, including five in a row and three in succession at Twickenham as they failed to close out several tight games.