WARNER DEARNS

Still just 22, the Japan lock is hoping it's third time lucky against England

- Neil Squires

“ I WOULD LIKE to beat England.” Warner Dearns delivers the sentence in a typically understated Kiwi way but manages, at the same time, to convey the unmistakable message that nothing in rugby would give him more pleasure than taking England’s scalp this summer.

At 22, the Japan second-row has already had two cracks, both of which – at the World Cup and at Twickenham in 2022 – ended in defeat. The results might have been expected by the outside world but that didn’t make them any easier to swallow for the Wellington-born skyscraper.

The abiding sense of an opportunity missed in Nice, when aping England’s kicking tactics and going down 34-12 in the pool game, still rankles.

“We got our arses handed to us at Twickenham but that game at the World Cup was disappointing. We played into England’s strengths. We could have played a lot better than we did. We didn’t play the right game plan,” he says.

“With new coaches it’s going to be an awesome challenge. It’s quite a bit of fun having Eddie Jones on board, who previously coached England.” Jones, for a myriad of reasons, will no doubt desire a first Japan Test win over England just as deeply.