England smash Chile with 11 tries
England 71-0 Chile
STADE PIERRE-MAUROY — England‘s 11-try win over Chile means they now only have Samoa standing between them and finishing top of Pool D in the Rugby World Cup. They have virtually booked their place in the quarter-final, unless the miracle of three teams finishing on 14 points occurs. Job done in Lille, basically, and Henry Arundell scored five tries.
Despite coming into the match off back-to-back victories, Steve Borthwick‘s side have come in for criticism for their style of play. The gameplan for the 27-10 and 34-12 victories over Argentina and Japan respectively centred around kicking out of hand to pin back opposition into their own 22. It sought to force punishable errors, or provide attacking opportunities with the kick chase, and is likely to be deployed again later in the tournament against stronger opposition.
However from the very start of this match the intent was clear – attack with pace, and try to hit gaps in the Chilean defence out wide. It was an expected but welcome change against lesser opposition – although Chile certainly showed enough to give England a scare early in the match. Los Condores are a fantastic addition to the World Cup and we hope to see their high-intensity offload game at many more to come.
For England, there was a renewed focus on pace of play and in exploiting defensive mismatches. For fans, it was simply nice to see the England backs back themselves, and to throw the ball about a bit. Elliot Daly had his best game in years, seemingly unleashed to run wide and at pace.
But did they show enough to convince Steve Borthwick that a bit more attacking verve is the way to go? Well…
Marcus Smith shines in fits and starts
One of the most intriguing changes to the teamsheet was the deployment of Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith at fullback, despite his rather diminutive stature. His selection ahead of the really rather tall Freddie Steward was not merely just to rest the Leicester man – Smith was selected over others who have played 15 far more regularly, such as Max Malins and Daly.
Through his agility and vision for a gap, Smith offers a point of difference over the steady and excellent, but not quite as incisive, Steward. Clearly this tactical tweak is being considered in future matches in which England need to find an attacking edge.
On the evidence of today’s match, there’s enough promise shown to consider it a risk worth taking at times, but not worthy of plan A.
Smith was deployed largely as expected, as a run-first second playmaker, operating behind an Ollie Lawrence-shaped screen in attack. He combined nicely with Arundell a few times early on, encouraging the winger to back himself against his opposite number for pace, rightly, and hitting the resulting ruck. A lovely wraparound coast-to-coast move saw him get outside his defender with ease, a try only stopped by Malins’ fumble into touch.
As the match went on he got a little squeezed by Chile’s rush in attacking scenarios. He ran back into traffic rather than get isolated, cleverly, several times, but the lack of incision against this defence was more than a little concerning. Then came the try.
Smith hit a fantastic line after a turnover to take out a defender before dinking a chip and chase that had failed prior in the game, catching a rolling bobbling ball in stride having shown his pace to burn past the Chilean defenders. The awareness and pace were a definite point of difference. In the second-half when Ford was brought on, he hit some nice lines off him too, including for his second try.
Enough to tempt Borthwick to throw him on in a quarter-final at 15 with 20 minutes to go?
Owen Farrell returns to rival George Ford
Another interesting facet of this match was the return of England captain Owen Farrell to the starting XV, having served his ban for a red card against Wales. Not least because of George Ford’s standout performances in the No 10 shirt in his absence against Argentina and Japan, with Manu Tuilagi also flourishing in the other shirt he could occupy, at inside centre. The pressure was as firmly on as it can be for a captain with 107 caps.
Farrell has in the past been accused of being more of a rigid fly-half than his competitors for the England shirt, but on today’s performance he was excellent and adaptable. His miss-pass for England’s first try by Arundell was an instinctive reading of a defensive mistake, mercilessly and calmly punishing the rush.
Minutes later he pumped a high ball up, which earned a penalty he hoofed for a lineout 10 metres out, from which England got their second try, driven over by Saracens clubmate Theo Dan. Get you a fly-half who can do both.
The caveat comes when you consider how much pressure he was put under by Chile’s defence, and how he will function under scrutiny from more aggressive defences. Ford certainly flourished more visibly against tougher challenges earlier in the tournament. But Farrell is captain. Who would be an England selector (other than everyone on rugby Twitter, or X)?
Arundell’s hat-trick try was perhaps the confluence of it all. A good Chilean defensive set in which they made no mistakes and England still scored. Smith took out two defenders trying to hit a gap as first receiver as Farrell wrapped around him, took the next playmaker spell as first receiver and hit a quick wide pass to Daly, who fixed a defender and prodded through for the searing Arundell to get on the end of and score.
No mistakes, basically undefendable. It really makes you, and Borthwick, wonder what could be.
