Tag: Rugby

Owen Farrell helped boot England into their sixth Rugby World Cup semi-final after surviving an incredible late fightback from Fiji at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Sunday.

England topped Pool D with four victories from four, but they took on a Fiji side in the last eight who inflicted their last defeat in the build-up to this tournament.

Steve Bortwick’s side appeared to be cruising into the semi-finals at 24-10 ahead deep in the second half but the Pacific Islanders mounted a sensational fightback to level matters with 10 minutes to go before Farrell’s boot rescued England and secured a 30-24 victory.

George Ford, the architect of England’s critical pool-stage victory over Argentina, dropped to the bench with captain Farrell moving from inside centre and Joe Marchant joining Manu Tuilagi in midfield.

Elsewhere, Harlequins playmaker Marcus Smith was preferred to Freddie Steward and made only a second Test start in the full-back position.

Tuilagi celebrates after scoring England’s opening try

After a cagey opening 10 minutes, referee Mathieu Raynal handed England the chance to open the scoring in front of the posts after Fiji were penalised for not rolling away and Farrell duly obliged.

Moments later, England went through two phases from the lineout before the dangerous Tuilagi spun away and dived down in the corner for his 20th try for his country and an 8-0 lead after Farrell hit the post with his conversion.

Scrum half Frank Lomani made up for an earlier missed penalty by converting with his second attempt to get Fiji on the board but it was the men in white who continued their bright start when Joe Marchant barrowed over from close range with Farrell putting over the extras for a comfortable 15-3 lead.

The Princess of Wales watches England in action alongside chairman of the RFU, Bill Beaumont

Marcus Smith is caught full in the face by Vinaya Habosi

Things went from bad to worse for the Fijians when wing Vinaya Habosi caught Smith full in the face with his head and was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.

However, despite being down to 14-players, No 8 Viliame Mata produced a moment of magic to outfox the England defence with a neat show and go to cross over the whitewash. Lomani converted to reduce the deficit to 15-10.

Farrell and England’s breakdown success delighted Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, in the stands, by completing a penalty hat-trick as further cracks appeared in Fiji’s discipline, and Borthwick’s side led by 11 points at the break.

Marchant dives in to score England’s second try

Both sides hardly charged into the quarter-finals in a blaze of glory, but they were desperate to grasp a glorious opportunity to progress, especially as Fiji upped the tempo at the start of the second half.

Despite looking dangerous, Fiji were continually being beaten to the breakdown and were caught offside. Farrell slotted over his fourth penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

The Pacific Island nation recorded their first-ever win over England when the two teams last met – a 30-22 triumph in a World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham back in August and some wonderful rugby enabled them to close the gap to within punching distance when Peni Ravai burst through to get over the line with Kuruvoli converting.

Botitu (left) celebrates scoring his sides third try in an incredible conclusion to the match

Fiji were not going quietly and in an incredible turnaround they sliced England apart to score again through Vilimoni Botitu under the posts with Kuruvoli’s second successful conversion tying things up at 24-24 with 10 to go.

A pulsating finale continued at pace, with Farrell then dropping a goal to put England three points ahead, and after Ben Earl’s stunning break resulted in another Farrell penalty, Fiji were unable to pull off a late miracle.

Ollie Lawrence consoles Waisea Nayacalevu after a titanic batle

The vagaries of the draw presented a less-than-perilous route to the semi-finals for England and, having now navigated it, they will be out to seize their opportunity at reaching a fourth World Cup final next Saturday.

Farrell: We had to find a way to win I Borthwick: We are determined to be successful

Owen Farrell, speaking to ITV

“It was what we expected. They are a tough, tough team that can turn it on in the blink of an eye. I thought we started the game really well. We really got after it in that first half.

“We always knew Fiji were going to have some good patches and they did. To find a way to win and get through to the semi-finals is a big step forward but we know we have plenty of work to do.”

Farrell

England head coach Steve Borthwick, speaking to ITV

“I thought the players were magnificent. The whole squad has worked very, very hard to get that result tonight,” said Borthwick.

“I have to give immense credit to Fiji. They played tremendously well tonight and they have had a fantastic World Cup. I am obviously delighted we found a way to win that game.

“I thought the vast majority of the game we were in control. There was a spell in the second half were they scored two back-to-back tries.

“What I was really pleased with was how the players handled it thereafter.

“A lot has been written about these players and this England team over the last period of time and what I see is a group of players that can handle and rise to these occasions.

“We don’t forget that many people said that we weren’t going to make it out of the group and then there was firmness that we would lose tonight.

“These players will be written off again I am pretty sure but when I see these players, I see a fantastic group of people who are determined to be successful, determined to be the best versions of themselves.”

Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui was nearly in tears in his post-match interview. “This is just the beginning for this Fiji team,” he says. “I couldn’t be prouder.”

What’s next?

Jonny Wilkinson kicked the winning drop goal to give England victory in extra time during the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final against Australia

England, who won their only Webb Ellis Cup in 2003, and have been beaten World Cup finalists on three occasions in 1991, 2007 and 2019 will take on hosts France or holders South Africa in the semi-finals the Stade de France in Paris, scheduled for next Saturday October 21 (8pm kick-off BST).

New Zealand, who progressed to the World Cup semi-finals for the ninth time in their history, will face Michael Cheika’s Argentina, who are into their first semi-final since 2015, at the same venue on Friday October 20 (8pm kick-off BST).

The Pumas beat the All Blacks for the first time in Sydney in the 2020 Rugby Championship and repeated the feat last year on New Zealand soil in Christchurch.

A ruthless New Zealand side broke Ireland hearts at the Rugby World Cup quarter-final stage again, as the All Blacks prevailed 28-24 at the Stade de France in Paris.

In a breathless first half, the All Blacks raced out to a 13-0 lead through a Leicester Fainga’anuku try, and the boots of Richie Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett, but Ireland recovered well to narrow the half-time gap to a single point at 18-17.

Ireland’s Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park scored tries during that opening period – either side of an Ardie Savea try for New Zealand and Aaron Smith’s sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on – as Andy Farrell’s team fought back, but their inability to strike in the 22 enough proved a major factor as Will Jordan put the All Blacks back to two scores ahead with a second-half try.

Ireland responded again as their pack forced a penalty try when Codie Taylor collapsed a rampaging rolling maul, with Taylor also sin-binned for the act. But the men in green crucially failed to score against the 14 players, suffering yet another agonising last-eight exit.

Mo’unga kicked New Zealand into an early 3-0 lead, and, despite several key Ireland chances in the 22, the All Blacks then blew out the scoreboard on 19 minutes with a stunning counter-attack try down the left.

Beauden Barrett created it as he chipped and regathered, before Jordie Barrett, Fainga’anuku and Rieko Ioane connected superbly, with the latter offloading inside magnificently for Fainga’anuku to score.

New Zealand’s Leceister Fainga’anuku scored the opening try of the contest

Mo’unga converted brilliantly for 13-0, but Johnny Sexton finally put Ireland onto the scoreboard after a cheap penalty for blocking.

On 27 minutes, Ireland – fuelled by the twinkling feet of Mack Hansen – played on penalty advantage before Aki scored a stunning solo try.

Ireland’s Bundee Aki replied with a brilliant solo run and score

Ireland’s lineout continued to falter, however, as, after losing another set-piece, New Zealand produced a 50:22 and were in for their second try through Savea, quick ball in the 22 paving the way for a diving finish in the corner.

Mo’unga struck wide with the conversion to leave the All Blacks up by eight, but scrum-half Smith was sin-binned with four minutes of the half to play.

Ardie Savea’s try in the corner came at a crucial time for the All Blacks, just after Ireland had hit back

After one Ireland attack was illegally halted, Ireland showed courage to kick to the corner again, from where Gibson-Park sniped and reached to score superbly.

Ireland continued to waste chances when well-placed, though, their first three attacks in the 22 in the second period each coming to nothing as the All Blacks defended strongly.

Jamison Gibson-Park scored Ireland’s second try on the cusp of half-time, but they wasted many other chances

The stark difference in ruthlessness was then laid bare when Mo’unga and Jordan cut through the heart of Ireland’s defence to score a try off a lineout within their own half.

Jordie Barrett lashed over the touchline conversion for a two-score lead at 25-17, and Ireland then lost key man Hansen to injury, before Sexton should have narrowed the gap back to five points via a penalty, but struck poorly wide.

Ireland continued to play in the New Zealand half, and in the 64th minute the pack sprinted forward for a penalty try which resulted in Taylor’s yellow card, handing Ireland a golden chance inside the final quarter. New Zealand were next to score, however, as Jordie Barrett struck over for a four-point lead.

Aki forced a breakdown penalty within moments, and though Ireland’s maul got rumbling forward again, Ronan Kelleher was agonisingly held up as he dived for the line.

The All Blacks’ defence just held out in the second half to claim victory

Caelan Doris then knocked on the goal-line dropout to compound the error, with Taylor’s sin-bin elapsing for no Ireland score.

Farrell’s men summoned up one final effort through 30-plus phases into the New Zealand 22, but they just fell short.

Sexton: I’m very proud of the boys and the nation | ‘We couldn’t have done more’

Ireland captain Sexton told ITV Sport post-match…

“I’m very proud of the boys. Proud of the nation, the country, we couldn’t have done any more really.

“It’s fine margins, they sucker punched us on a couple of tries and we had to work really hard for our tries, that’s what champions do.

“Fair play to them, they’re a cracking team. It’s been amazing, these last six weeks have been a dream. This group, these fans and I’m just gutted we couldn’t do it for them.

“You’ve got to work hard for fairy-tale endings, we didn’t get it and that’s just life.

“We didn’t leave a stone unturned, we ticked every box, trained the house down. I thought after a slow enough start we played alright tonight.

“Fair play to the All Blacks, they’re a very good team and well coached.”

New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said post-match…

“It was a massive game between two teams that were desperate for a result and they’re an incredibly proud team with an amazing record coming into this one.

“But the quarter-finals is about knockout rugby and we’ve been there before and we know we were going to have to dig into ourselves, we did and I couldn’t be more proud.

“Pretty important, wasn’t it? [Barrett holding up Kelleher over the try-line]. He got himself underneath it and that’s the game of small margins. Our defence was particularly strong for most of the game.”

What’s next?

The defeat means Ireland exit at the quarter-final stage of a World Cup for the eighth time in their history, and have still yet to make a World Cup semi-final. They exit having topped Pool B after wins over Romania, Tonga, South Africa and Scotland, before falling to the All Blacks as they did four years ago in Japan.

The victory means New Zealand progress to the World Cup semi-finals for the ninth time in their history, and will face Argentina at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday October 20 (8pm kick-off BST).