Eddie Jones has made sure tensions are high ahead of England's first Rugby World Cup semi-final since 2007 after making accusations of spying.
England’s training ground ahead of this weekend’s clash with the All Blacks in Yokohama is surrounded by apartment buildings and have been used by numerous teams during the tournament - including the New Zealand squad and South Africa.
Teams who have used the field haven’t complained about it all tournament but with the Webb Ellis trophy within reach, Jones decided to address the issue now.
“There's definitely someone in the apartment block filming,” Jones said.
“Look, you just don't need to do it anymore mate, cos you see everything. You can watch everyone's training on YouTube or whatever there is - there's everything out there.
“There's no value in doing that sort of thing now, absolutely zero.”
Today, 1 NEWS was given special access to the grounds so we went in search for evidence of potential spying.
However, after a short time at the venue, calling it spying would probably be an insult to secret agents.
Jones believes the dubious actions were committed from high up on the apartment block parallel to the training pitch but a quick survey of the area revealed almost anyone could record from anywhere and get a good amount of information recorded.
Whether climbing up a slide at a playground or looking past tarpaulins that aren’t even attached to fencing properly – it’s clear to see that anyone’s training there could be viewed and recorded with ease.
So what about the people who actually live there?
One resident told 1 NEWS he watches the practices “sometimes” but wasn’t a spy while another, former All Blacks Sevens player Alando Soakai, denied being the spy as well.
Nobody 1 NEWS spoke to had been contacted by the current All Blacks either, which left coach Steve Hansen amused at Jones’ first potential mind game ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“Sometimes you're better not to bother going there and sometimes you are so you know Eddie will decide whether he wants to go there and I've already decided what I want to do and you'll have to wait and see.
“A couple more days to go.”
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