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Eddie Jones' 'mind games': It's just an old guy with a massive ego, says Scotty Stevenson

October 24, 2019

Kimberlee Downs, Scotty Stevenson and Andrew Saville in Tokyo give their take on the All Blacks v England and Wales v South Africa.

Scotty Stevenson has launched a scathing attack on Eddie Jones' "mind games" tactics ahead of the semifinal bewteen the All Blacks and England on Saturday night.

Jones made claims about the All Blacks spying earlier in the week and then appeared to indicate it was all a joke the following day.

Stevenson, commentator for Spark Sport and TVNZ for the weekend's semis, said he was not amused.

"I can't stand it," he says on this week's episode of The Front Row. "I'm here to talk about rugby. There are 46 young men in that game and 46 young men in the other game and that's who we should be talking about.

"Instead we're becoming obsessed with an old man, who will be sitting in the grandstand, because he is quick with a one-liner.

"There's no focus on the players. They are the ones putting their bodies on the line. This guy puts his mouth on the line."

He described Jones and his opposite number, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, as two guys "standing in front of the world stage with giant egos going back and forth at each other".

1 NEWS Sport presenter Andrew Saville added he expects the mindgames to fail regardless.

"I think it'll totally backfire on Jones," Saville said.

"The All Blacks do take note of this but it'll just fire them up. The Wallabies do it every year and it always backfires."

With TVNZ locked out of their usual Auckland studio after the fire at the SkyCity convention centre, 1 NEWS reporter Kimberlee Downs roped in colleagues Stevenson and Saville for a The Front Row special from the streets of Japan.

The trio broke down another big week of Rugby World Cup action, including the All Blacks' decisive quarter-final win over Ireland.

Saville compared the 46-14 win in Tokyo to the 62-13 quarter-final win over France four years ago and the 1995 semi-final win over England, famous for Jonah Lomu's four-try frenzy.

Stevenson said much of the result spawned from the opening 20 minutes from the men in black.

"They dismantled Ireland right from the start," Stevenson said.

"These teams like Ireland - they get in front and then their hopes get up and then they get harder and harder to take down.

"It was an all-out blitz."

Watch the special episode above to catch a full breakdown.

Both semis are live on Spark Sport and TVNZ 1 at the weekend.

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