England flyhalf Owen Farrell kicked 20 points as England hung on after a late Fijian fightback to see themselves into the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup with a 30-24 win in Marseilles.
In a poor game of rugby, where England’s streetsmarts and knowledge of knockout rugby won them through against the tournament darlings, Steve Borthwick’s team would not want to use their performance as any reference of their ability.
? Argentina
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? New Zealand
? England
Steve Borthwick’s men book their spot in the #RWC2023 semi-finals with a hard-fought victory over Fiji.#ENGvFIJ pic.twitter.com/9KTcZMgB3k
And the fact that such a poor team can be in the semifinals of the World Cup says so much about the draw, especially after the absolute feast of quality dished up in Paris between Ireland and New Zealand the night before.
If either of those teams had met either of these teams, it would be hard to argue that the All Blacks or Ireland would not have won by at least 20 points, such was the difference in class.
And while England did win on the day, it was the same old story for Fiji, whose heroics in the tournament in beating Australia remain their high point. Their game, unfortunately, while still able to produce some thrilling moments and be every fan’s darling team, has gone down since that victory and against England they were their own worst enemies for the majority of the game.
A captain's performance ??
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Owen Farrell is the @mastercard #POTM#RWC2023 | #ENGvFIJ | #Priceless pic.twitter.com/Ty3pQgQj8E
HEART-STOPPING MOMENTS
That they were able to produce two heart-stopping moments in the second half to get them level with England going into the last 20 minutes shows their undoubted pedigree in attacking rugby, it was just that the rest of their game let them down terribly.
Fiji are not out of this one yet!
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 15, 2023
They score and convert to reduce England’s lead to seven points ??
?? Stream #RWC2023 live now: https://t.co/bDeiretgWP | #ENGvFIJ pic.twitter.com/wWl1ZJto6J
Aided by one of the poorest reffing performances of the Rugby World Cup, where Frenchman Mathieu Raynal gave almost every 50-50 call to England, Fiji then went and missed nine points with the boot and had such poor game management that it was hard to feel sorry for them at times.
Their kicking game was atrocious, and lacked any sort of penetration, while Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes dismantled their lineout with ease, either sacking them at will or stealing ball from them at crucial times.
Then as the game went to its death, and they were chasing the result, they turned to one-off runners, looked static on attack and almost looked out of ideas. Fiji are a quality side but need a lot more Tier one action if they are ever to progress further than a quarterfinal, and on Sunday it showed.
SMART, KNOCKOUT RUGBY
England, by contrast, played smart, knockout rugby and were slightly the better side in managing the contest, although this performance will hardly have any of the bigger sides shaking in their boots.
They started incredibly well, holding onto the ball and making inroads up the middle, with both their opening tries coming from this gambit before going wide for both Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant to score tries. Marchant’s one was especially impressive given his footwork on the way to the line.
Fiji struggled to get into the contest from the start, but when they did, they found their broken play attack perfect as Viliami Mata picked up a loose pass close to the line, went straight and flat-footed the defenders to give them the score.
But as they struggled with Raynal’s officiating they were punished by Farrell’s boot, and quickly they were 21-10 behind at the break, wondering how Tom Curry never got yellow carded for a grass cutter tackle and needing something special in the second half to get them back.
Farrell added another penalty early in the second half and it looked over for Fiji. But a burst of five minutes of pure rugby passion got them level with Semi Radradra at the centre of both moves, first busting a tackle to send Peni Ravai over from the final pass and then giving the perfect offload for Vilimoni Botitu to score and level matters.
There was a surge of support for the Fijians as the crowd bayed for more, but Farrell and England’s forwards nipped that in the bud by latching onto loose passes and watching as first the flyhalf slotted a drop goal to retake the lead, and then a penalty went their way for him to make it a six point game.
Fiji’s lack of penetration in the final minutes and lack of ideas cost them in the end, but Farrell was incredibly lucky not to be carded for a deliberate knockdown near the end of the game.
But that summed it up as England held on and Courtney Lawes won a final, very controversial penalty to get them home.
England won on the back of smart, knockout rugby and a number of 50-50s going their way. Fiji lost because of missed kicks, poor discipline and a lack of killer instinct when it mattered.
But the gulf in quality between the two sides of the draw couldn’t have been bigger than the distance between Marseilles and Paris.
SCORERS
ENGLAND - tries: Manu Tuilagi, Joe Marchant. Conversion: Owen Farrell. Penalties: Farrell (5). Drop Goal: Farrell
FIJI - tries: Viliami Mata, Perry Ramai, Vilimoni Botitu. Conversions: Frank Lomani, Simione Kuruvoli (2). Penalty: Lomani.