ALL of England will be on the edge of its seat watching the 2019 Rugby World Cup final tomorrow morning in the ultimate clash against South Africa.
And England players will be calling on more than just their talents to play better — by believing in bizarre superstitions and carrying out certain rituals before the game:
Wrapping it up the night before
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Rugby players are famed for keeping a strict diet but for England wing Jack Nowell, his pre-match meal has absolutely nothing to do with nutrition.
"We'll always have chicken fajitas the night before a game. It's a bit of a superstition," the 26-year-old told GQ.
"I live next to Jack Yeandle, [Exeter Chiefs captain], and he'll come over with the family and we'll have chicken fajitas."
Tuning in to Chris Breezy
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Anthony Watson put the icing on the cake in England's emphatic 40-16 win over Australia in the quarter-final by scoring the last try of the game.
But the inspiring full-back and winger has previously shared his pre-game ritual: he always listens to Ayo by Chris Brown.
"It is just a chilled song and I have listened to it every game since I was 16 and it always does the trick," Watson told BANG Showbiz in 2015.
He also said he's had to trim the number of pre-match routines he had because he thought he was getting too superstitious.
But he had kept up with a couple — including always getting a haircut before a game and making sure to always put his left sock on before his right.
Supernatural medic
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England centre Manu Tuilagi's international career has been blighted by injuries and public scandals, including jumping off a ferry in Auckland at the 2011 World Cup.
To overcome such hindrances, the Samoa-born player has admitted to enlisting the services of a witch doctor to help him heal and be rid of unwanted spirits.
On his mum's advice, he travelled to the island of Upolu in 2017 where he spent three days being treated by the good doctor, who massaged him with Fijian oil.
"She was half Fijian and half Samoan and found there were three lady spirits who had married themselves on to me for the last three years," Tuilagi told BT Sport.
"The witch doctor told me that was why I had been injured.
"The spirits wanted me for themselves — they wanted to punish me and injuring me was the way to do it."
And it seems to have worked, having kept himself out of trouble and largely injury-free ever since.
But England probably won't be sacking its physios anytime soon.
Putting the boot in
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Henry Slade has developed a reputation among other players for taking 15 minutes to lace his boots and his driven mates round the bend with his obsessive habits.
But he's recently spoken out about his OCD and how it's affected him and his game.
In a candid interview, he described worrying that untidy boot laces would hurt his performance, and having to close doors in extremely particular ways to feel relaxed.
He's now addressing the issue, but said: "I used to compound errors on the pitch by thinking of the last one, wondering if it is because of this or that.
"Before I would blame it on something as simple as not shutting the door right.
"If I put my boots on wrong, I would feel like I was not going to play very well, little things like that."
Tokyo welcomes England fans for Rugby World Cup final against South AfricaTouching every corner flag
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Winger Joe Cokanasiga, 21, has played so well for England that he's been shortlisted for World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year.
His performance might look like the product of his incredible skill — but he says his success is in part due to his curious pre-match ritual.
"Before the warm-up I'll run out and touch every pole. I have to touch all four corner flags," Cokanasiga told the England Rugby Podcast.
The Fiji-born star said he's been doing the flag-touching routine since joining London Irish in 2015.
Eyes on the prize
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But not every player has had superstitious beliefs hanging over their performances.
England captain Owen Farrell says although he once found himself treasuring match-day rituals, he's since tried to kick the habit.
"I think when I first started I used to be a bit more conscious of my routine and I made sure I did the same things on match day," he told Third Space.
"As I've got more experienced though, it's not something that has really stuck with me so no superstitions really."
Speaking of kicking habits, one routine he's stuck with is his pre-kick visualisation — in which he cocks his head and imagines the path of the ball by tracking its mental trajectory with his eyes.
His other unwavering tradition is his famous "JJ" celebration, where he interlocks his index fingers every time he scores.
The heartwarming gesture in support of the charity Joining Jack, which raises funds to fight Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
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Lucky shirt for Spingboks' coach
Even the Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus will be in on the superstitious action — because he believes he's found his lucky shirt.
He's lost just once this year — against the All Blacks in South Africa's first match of the World Cup — so he's worn the same white collar shirt to every game ever since.
After beating Wales in the semi-final, he said: "Last year, I had to change quite a lot because we lost quite a lot.
"This year, I had to change it only once."So I'm hoping I can wear this until the end of the final. This is my lucky shirt so far."
Coach Eddie Jones says England team is unchanged for Rugby World Cup final against South Africa
