Haskell relives the moment he 'folded up Pocock like a travel map'
By Rugby Onslaught

Haskell relives the moment he ‘folded up Pocock like a travel map’

James Haskell was on fire in the summer of 2016 when England toured Australia, and he has relived probably the most iconic moment of that tour which came in the first Test in Brisbane.

Starting in the No7 shirt, Haskell flew into No8 David Pocock and drove him backwards, slamming the Wallabies legend onto his backside. On World Rugby’s Jersey Tales this week, Haskell relived that moment and that tour as a whole, as England swept the Wallabies aside 3-0.

“There’s one more [England shirt] that I want to talk about, which was the tour to Australia, 2016,” the 77-cap flanker said.

“On the back of the Grand Slam, absolutely loved it, smashed it, folded up Pocock like a travel map, which to be honest with you, was the one thing that I ever did better than him because he was ten thousand times better than me as a player and amazing.

“But it was a good, iconic moment for me. Won the game, did a little break, pulled off my first ever side step and got an opportunity to win that series and won it 3-0, did something we had never done before.

“I unfortunately got injured, which ultimately ended my career a couple of years later. I was never quite the same player after that unfortunately, but I gave it all out on the field so this shirt means a lot to me.”

Having won a Grand Slam a few months before, this tour was arguably the best rugby England have ever played under Eddie Jones, and was part of their 18-match winning streak. Haskell was unstoppable in the first two Tests, but picked up a two injury in the second which would not only rule him out of the third Test, but a number and months after and would plague him throughout his career.

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