 did his drop goal trick on us'. 'In truth we were not quite ready then. It was too early for us. But Woody (Clive Woodward), myself and the other coaches knew we were moving in the right direction. I said if it does not fall perfectly don't worry, you'll have time to keep developing. He came back and said, 'Phil, that's given me a lot of confidence'. I think he had lost confidence and self-belief, which is so important. Players smell that confidence. 'He told them they had to man up otherwise they would go out. That's the crucial part of coaching. Yes, you need a system the players can understand but the most important thing is to inspire them and ensure they give 100 per cent. I think that's the way Kevin is so good. 'I texted him straight after the [Argentina] game and told him you won that game. The defence was absolutely awesome. I thought it was outstanding, I really did. It shook up Argentina to the extent they lost all their confidence.' Full-back Freddie Steward admitted that the performance was fuelled by a sense of having let Sinfield down against Fiji. Forwards Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Ben Earl topped the tackle charts with 15, 14 and 13 respectively while Manu Tuialgi's bone-crunching hit on Argentina centre Santiago Chocobares proved a perfect snapshot of England's physical dominance. 'We got a bit of a rocket after that [Fiji] game,' Steward said. 'There were no complaints about that, it needed to happen. We had a very thorough review, which we needed, and I think we reaped the benefits out there tonight. That was necessary for that to happen. 'That's what makes Kev such a good defence coach, he's so inspiring. He motivates us so much and he){kind=link}
Full-back Freddie Steward admitted that the performance against Argentina was fuelled by a sense of having let Sinfield down against Fiji
England’s players delivered a defensive rearguard against Argentina after receiving a “rocket” from coach Kevin Sinfield, whose personal confidence had been rocked by last month’s defeat to Fiji.
After missing 27 tackles and conceding three tries against the Pacific Islanders, England dug deep to hold Argentina scoreless from the fifth to the 79th minutes in their opening Pool D match on Saturday. The performance was all the more impressive considering England had flanker Tom Curry sent off after just three minutes.
Watching with considerable pride was Phil Larder, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning defence coach whom Sinfield has used as a sounding board since switching codes to union in 2021. Larder contacted Sinfield, who wrote in his autobiography that he nearly quit Leicester Tigers within the first week, straight after the 30-22 loss to Fiji having recognised that he was facing another test of faith.
“For the first time after the Fiji game, the media picked up that the defence had been terrible and there were a few questions about Kevin,” Larder told Telegraph Sport. “I texted him to say, ‘Don’t worry Kev, the same thing happened to me at the 1999 World Cup when New Zealand beat us and then Jannie (de Beer) did his drop goal trick on us’.