With Fiji breathing down their necks in Marseille, Steve Borthwick’s players took the game by the scruff of the neck
en minutes left to play in Marseille, and the game is slipping away from England, taking with it their improbable shot at winning this World Cup. They had been 14 points up just moments ago and the Stade Vélodrome was so quiet in those moments that the crowd were throwing Mexican waves. It would have been stretching the point to say you could hear a pin drop, but if you strained your ears you could hear the bones pop and the bodies flop.
A blink of an eye and all of a sudden England have the ball back. Ben Earl is bullocking his way downfield, past one, two, three tacklers and Fiji are reeling backwards to their own tryline. Here’s Manu Tuilagi, wide on the left and held inches short of the line, and here’s Marcus Smith, head wrapped in bandages, the front of his jersey covered in blood, the numbers ripped clean off the back, over on the right, stopped short too. England were in arm’s reach of the tryline.
So England have made the semi-finals. Somehow. They’ve done it even though they’ve precious little more to work with. Blood, sweat and effort, a solid scrum, a sure lineout, and the gnarly knowhow of a handful of grisly senior players, men who have been through the knockout rounds before, and have a point to prove to all the people who told them they wouldn’t make it this time around.
I’m not saying Borthwick’s England are predictable, but, uniquely among the eight teams who made it to the quarter-finals, they kicked every single one of their kickoffs and restarts to the very same side of the pitch. It doesn’t matter who’s taking it, or who they’re playing against. They go right every time, as reliably as the English electorate.After that, England usually kick some more. They made 30 from hand against Fiji, which brings their total for the tournament to 165 in five matches.
And, glory be, it’s working for him. Because it’s one thing to see the punch coming, another again to be able to get out of the way of it. None of the five teams they’ve come up against so far have managed it yet. Two months ago, when theyto this same Fijian team, England looked like a rabble. In the weeks since, Borthwick has drilled them in how to win. Now, all of a sudden, they’re just one more away from a final.
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