‘Written off’: Farrell brilliance helps England to semifinals

MARSEILLE, France — The narrative of England’s quarterfinal against Fiji was always going to revolve around Owen Farrell, one way or another.

England’s top scorer is polarizing opinion, much to the astonishment of those who have played alongside him, but despite all the talk about selection and whether he was fit or not, on Sunday when the pressure was on felt, it was he who gave the kick. his team in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup.

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England’s 30-24 victory over Fiji was built on supremacy, pragmatic rugby and as much mistake-free rugby as possible with Ben Earl, Courtney Lawes and Maro Itoje all heroic in nullifying the blistering speed of the England ruck. Fiji.

As Farrell drove the ball deep into the Stade Velédrome crowd to stop a final Fiji attack, he was greeted by Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” blaring from the stadium’s PA. It was a fitting soundtrack to mark a victory that sees England claw their way into the World Cup last four after a year in which they entered the World Cup with three wins from nine.

It was a turnaround for a team that came into this World Cup talking about being prematurely written off, a group talking about how much they learned from a Six Nations campaign where they finished fifth, and a quartet of matches before the tournament where they lost to Wales, Ireland and Fiji. And five weeks after they relied on the boot of George Ford to send England 14-man past Argentina in the first match, it was Farrell on the same square of turf whose metronomic kicks since the tee and hand brought them home.

“The players have been written off,” England manager Steve Borthwick said. “A lot of people said we wouldn’t make it out of the group. We made it out of the group, now we’re out of the quarter-finals.”

Pre-match discussions in the England camp focused on the decision to start Marcus Smith at fullback and Farrell at flyhalf, with George Ford – who scored all of England’s points in their first match – on the bench. Smith danced and darted during the opening exchanges, slotting into the role of second playmaker on offense and taking cover on defense alongside Elliot Daly.

England started the better of the two teams and the pressure was on with a Farrell penalty after the 11th minute and then a Manu Tuilagi try in the 14th minute as Farrell collected the ball from a scrappy scrum and put the Englishman out of the way as he swept the pitch. corner, broke through two Fijian defenders, crossing the line to score.

Joe Marchant added another in the 23rd minute and it looked like England were in control of the game, but as they know from the late August defeat at Twickenham and the scare Fiji gave Wales in of the first match as well as the victory against Australia in Saint Petersburg. -Etienne, the Pacific Islanders are one of the most dangerous teams in sports when they gain momentum.

England needed a 15-3 lead for Fiji to spark, and although Vinaya Habosi was in the bin after opening Smith’s header with a header of his own, Viliame Mata scored his opener with a try wonderfully worked that saw him throw. a dummy to confuse half of the English defense after catching a pass recovered through the legs of Vilimoni Botitu.

But each time Fiji took the lead, England managed to take the match back in their favour. The pinch points came between the 60th and 70th minute. England were hit by “two thunderbolts”, as Borthwick put it, from Peni Ravai and Botitu, and with 12 minutes to go they were locked at 24 points apiece.

We’ve seen Fijian teams sprinting at this point, finding extra equipment and blowing their opponents out of the water. But England found a way back into the match, Farrell scoring a goal in the 72nd minute and slotting home a penalty six minutes later – thanks to a 50-yard break from Earl – to secure a lead from 30-24.

Fiji had chances to win the match in the final. They attacked deep, but the English defense remained strong and pushed them back into their own half. The offloads became more desperate and it looked like a Farrell knock-on had finished the game. Referee Mathieu Raynal ruled it was deliberate, Fiji had one last shot, but it was this combination of Lawes and Earl that turned the ball over, giving Farrell the opportunity to end things.

“It was a controlled performance at times, but there are a lot of things we can do better,” Farrell said. “There’s still a lot we can clean up.”

England was left bloodied and bruised, but vindicated. Amid a sea of ​​chaos, England held their nerve against Fiji to book their place in the Rugby World Cup semi-finals. They have told us since their arrival in France that they are progressing, that they have learned from their past mistakes and that they have grown.

The way they handled the outage is proof of that. This trio of Earl, Lawes and Curry were superb, aided ably by Itoje and Joe Marchant who secured a key turnover in the first half.

“I think questions were asked of the defenders after the Samoa game,” Earl said. “As I said, big game players need to start standing up and we’ve seen Courtney and Tom do it on the big stage and watching these boys in full flight is an absolute privilege.

“I’m happy we can all contribute and I feel like this is the start of our three-way journey and hopefully we have two more big games to do it in.”

For Fiji, the World Cup is coming to an end. Once again they were wonderful, playing rugby from the sky and bringing joy to everyone who saw them play. We can’t help but support them, wishing that they one day end up on the podium with the World Cup within their reach. You hope it’s not a dream that will take decades, but they are making progress and the credit goes to Simon Raiwalui and their players.

“The pride never went away, it was there from the beginning until the day I died,” Raiwalui said. “These boys are family. The pride doesn’t go away.

“The joy is there. For 15 weeks these boys have worked hard and we are going to celebrate that. We are suffering now in terms of result but I couldn’t be more proud of this group in terms of what they have brought. They have built something for the next generation of Fijian rugby players: they have laid the foundations.

“We’re hurting right now and it’s going to hurt for a long time because it’s something we built and we thought we could go further. The confidence in the team has always been there. I’m overflowing with pride.”

For England, the echoes of 2007 are impossible to avoid. At the time, England had been marmalised in their opening match against South Africa, losing 36-0, but had fought their way to the final, winning a quarter-final in Marseille along the way. Sixteen years later, England is plowing the same furrow. England is looking to keep this train on track, moving forward, winning by any means possible.

As Borthwick said, an England team of the recent past would have lost this game, but this group is not yet ready for the end of their journey and Farrell’s performance illustrated that. He finished with 20 points, the Player of the Match award and the honor of leading his team to the semi-finals.

“I think he’s a fantastic leader,” Borthwick said of Farrell. “He is the kind of leader I would like to follow on the pitch. I think he is a brilliant player who flourishes in competitions and especially on these big occasions he improves even more. We are very lucky to have Owen as a player on this team and as our leader. He should be very proud of his performance and the way he led the team.