Friday 5 January 2018 09:46, UK
Will Greenwood says it is more important for England to beat the All Blacks in November than to win this year's Six Nations.
England last beat the All Blacks in 2012, and Steve Hansen's side remain the only major scalp to evade England since Eddie Jones took over at the end of 2015.
Jones and his troops will finally have their chance when the All Blacks arrive in London for a clash on November 10, live on Sky Sports, and Greenwood believes that game should remain England's priority for this year.
"To have that total, genuine from-your-core self-belief that you can win a World Cup, you want to know that you've beaten everyone," Greenwood said on this week's Offload.
"Some England lads were involved in the Lions last year, but it was in a red jersey and it had Jonathan Davies, Conor Murray, Faletau and Tadhg Furlong contributing.
"Some of them are long enough in the tooth to have played in 2012 where they battered the All Blacks in Twickenham, but as this collective, under this coach, in this guise, in this iteration of England - they haven't beaten the All Blacks."
The 2003 World Cup winner says beating New Zealand remains the biggest prize in the sport.
"The All Blacks are the greatest rugby team on the planet; there aren't many sporting teams who are better than them in terms of dominance.
"If you're an England footballer you want to go to Brazil and beat Brazil, if you're a racehorse you want to win at Cheltenham, if you're a darts player you want to beat Phil the Power.
"You want to go to Thomond Park and win - if you bring it down to club level - and at international level, you want to face the Haka and you want to beat it."
