How Owen Farrell silenced critics with starring role for England against Fiji
England 30-24 Fiji
STADE VELODROME — England battled, scrambled and ultimately thought their way through to the semi-finals of the World Cup, flying the flag for Britain and Ireland in Paris next Saturday evening when they will play France or South Africa. New Zealand and Argentina will contest the other tie the day before.
As for the Flying Fijians, their captain Waisea Nayacalevu was incandescent with rage at a series of penalty decisions against his team, including the one earned by the redoubtable England flanker Courtney Lawes clamped over one final ruck that ended the chance of one of the World Cup’s mightiest upsets.
Nayacalevu afterwards followed the Samoans beaten by England the previous week in making accusations of refereeing biased against the so-called tier-two teams – in this case by the Frenchman, Mathieu Raynal – but we must hope this is not the only lasting memory of these Fijians.
They should feel the love from neutral fans of their brash style of play, and most importantly be given a fair crack of the whip financially and with quality fixtures in the years to come – although do not hold your breath on these last two counts.
England’s captain Owen Farrell had his name booed before kick-off by some in the 61,000-plus crowd when the teams were run through on the big screen, but he wound up as the hero with 20 points from kicks including the decisive drop goal and penalty in the closing 10 minutes. He also lived on the edge, as always, with a deliberate knock-on that handed Fiji a last chance to snatch the win.
The Pacific Islanders were in their third World Cup quarter-final, to go with 1987 and 2007 – they have never made it further. They had already fought back from trailing 24-10 going into the final quarter to level the scores with two converted tries.
When they kicked for a line-out from Farrell’s offence, they were halted by England’s pack and helpless as Mesake Doge, the replacement prop, was pinged for going off his feet and holding on as Lawes laid his long limbs on the ball.
Nayacalevu protested with his hands held skywards, then turned his back on Raynal in a refusal to be placated. A few metres away England’s No.8 Ben Earl was fist-pumping in his now trademark celebration as part of his side’s mixture of ecstasy and relief.
Reaching the semi-finals of this competition was surely always par for England in the kind half of the lopsided draw. To go any further they will have to beat a higher-ranked team for the first time, but at least they have the opportunity to do so, after this sixth victory in their all-time total nine quarter-finals, and pool wins over Argentina, Japan, Chile and Samoa here.
The opening try for England after 13 minutes was a classic of rugby by numbers, or smart exploitation of the opposition straight from the playbook of head coach Steve Borthwick – pick your own description.
From a Fiji restart after a Farrell penalty, the sequence ran like clockwork: a maul to establish base camp, a single phase to shift it a little further forward, then a box-kick by scrum-half Alex Mitchell.
Rugby World Cup key dates
UK time
- Friday 20 Oct – Argentina vs New Zealand, Stade de France, 8pm (SF 1)
- Saturday 21 Oct – England vs Winner QF 4 (France or South Africa), Stade de France, 8pm (SF 2)
- Saturday 28 Oct – Winner SF1 vs SF2, Stade de France, 8pm (Final)
That drew Fiji into conceding a soft penalty for a block on the chasing Elliot Daly and, lo and behold, England had a line-out in the opposition 22. With a safe catch and a simple recycle, Farrell stepped in at half-back at a ruck to give a short-side ball to Manu Tuilagi and the centre battered past Frank Lomani and Vinaya Habosi to score.
Joe Marchant had England’s other first-half try, converted by Farrell, while Fiji created a sweet score for No.8 Bill Mata with a through-the-legs pass by fly-half Vilimoni Botitu, and it was 21-10 to England at the break
Having converted just two of their 17 entries into the Samoa 22 into tries last time out, this was England much improved at taking points when they needed to.
In among it, Farrell looked in his element as he was slinging hard and flat passes, and Fiji were hurt by Lomani’s two missed penalties but determined to back up their warm-up win over England at Twickenham in August.
England’s kicking tactics worked again in the third quarter – a box-kick and a grubber enough to pressurise Fiji into conceding a line-out, and a few phases later an offside penalty was kicked by Farrell.
Judging the efficacy of Marcus Smith at full-back in attack for England was difficult but his defensive determination was clear as he was bloodied about the nose and the back of the head.
Wondrously, Fiji ran and surged to the two converted tries by the prop Peni Ravai on 63 minutes, and fly-half Botitu five minutes later, both converted by Simione Kuruvoli who had come on for Lomani but also missed a penalty in between.
England were rocking, and Semi Radradra, in from his wing, was playmaking.
Then Farrell showed his big-match wisdom by picking off just the fourth drop goal of his 110-cap career, followed by a breakdown penalty near the posts, made by Earl’s 50-metre breakaway which came when Fiji were on the brink of a line-break. Yes, it was that kind of match.
Borthwick hails Farrell
Borthwick paid tribute to captain and fly-half Farrell as “a fantastic leader” after England’s 30-24 win that sent them to the semi-finals.
Farrell kicked 20 points including a drop goal and penalty in the last 10 minutes after Fiji had hit back from trailing 24-10 to level the scores.
Borthwick, who had dropped George Ford to hand Farrell his favourite No.10 role, said: “I’ll reiterate the words I have said many times – he [Farrell] is a fantastic leader, the kind of leader I would follow into the pitch. On these big occasions, he gets even better, we are very fortunate to have him.”
Asked if England would be underdogs in Saturday’s semi-final in Paris, Borthwick said: “I don’t really care what other people think of us. I just care about the team. I said the team would be ready for [the opening World Cup match on] September the ninth, and they were.
“Now the team have built through the tournament. There is a smartness about the team, a composure about the team, led by this man [Farrell].”
Farrell said there was “no panic” at 24-all, and added: “We wrestled our way back into the game and this team is finding ways to win. There are a lot of good teams left in this competition and we have got to have a massive amount of respect for what other teams can do.”
Fiji’s captain Waisea Nayacalevu was asked whether French referee Mathieu Raynal had been unconsciously biased against lower-ranked nations.
Shaking his head in anger and staring at the ceiling several times in the post-match press conference the centre said: “Absolutely. I was frustrated with a few calls. They had already formed a ruck and then [England lock Maro] Itoje just came in and grabbed onto the ball and there was no penalty there. [That happened] three times in the game. I am so gutted we fell short.”
