Sam Underhill says England players are leading training for Rugby World Cup match vs France
Tuesday 8 October 2019 16:26, UK
England flanker Sam Underhill has revealed the players have been leading training sessions this week in an effort to "keep everyone engaged" ahead of their final Rugby World Cup Pool C match against France.
England have already qualified for the quarter-finals, with Saturday's match in Yokohama deciding who finishes top of the pool, with the winner likely to face Australia in the last eight.
But the runners-up of Pool C, who are likely to play Wales next, could avoid a potential semi-final against the defending champions New Zealand.
Underhill, however, says England are fully focused on beating France, with head coach Eddie Jones giving the players more responsibility in training to make it four wins from four.
The Bath forward told Sky Sports News: "He [Jones] has been pretty normal and pretty much the same this week.
"I think one of the big things this week is that we've got a lot of player involvement, so a lot of what we're doing is player-led, so I think that's a good way of keeping everyone engaged.
"But it's much the same, I think we're on to a good thing.
"I think the key for us is not going away from what we've done and not to get distracted by anything other than this week."
Underhill was named man of the match in England's 39-10 win over Argentina and the 23-year-old is enjoying the experience of his first World Cup.
"I love the occasion," he said. "It's been brilliant being out here and it's a proper boyhood dream come true to play out here, so it's been awesome.
"In terms of my performance [against Argentina], I'm happy enough but there's always stuff to work on and improve upon so that's key to focus in on, where you can build.
"I think as a team we've highlighted some areas to build on and keep working on, but in general we're happy with it."