Farrell explains England’s Haka stance

England captain Owen Farrell has revealed England took up ‘V’ formation during New Zealand’s Haka to show they would not be intimidated. The Red Rose pulled off a stunning 19-7 World Cup semi-final victory over the All Blacks to book a date with either Wales or South Africa – and they set the tone right from the off. Manu Tuilagi scored in just the second minute of the match to give Eddie Jones’ side an early advantage but it appears as though the psychology started prior to kick-off. The Kiwis performed their traditional ‘challenge’ Haka dance ahead of the match and instead of standing in a line opposing the world champions, the men in white took up a flying V. It seemed to do the trick as the 2003 champions never took a backward step for 80 minutes to end up worthy winners. Farrell then lifted the lid on their pre-match stance, saying: “We didn’t want them to come at us. We kept a respectful distance. We didn’t want to stand in a flat line and just let them come at us.”