Opinion
Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to reflect on the sublime 19-7 victory for England in their World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks.
It seemed like a huge mountain for England to climb. Indeed, when none of the journalists present at Eddie Jones’ press conference this week raised their hand after Jones asked whether they thought England would win this semi-final.
If there’s one coach you want heading into a World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, though, it’s Eddie Jones, who coached the Wallabies to their semi-final victory against the All Blacks in 2003.
England put pressure on New Zealand right from the get-go, with Manu Tuilagi scoring just 98 seconds into the match. With the conversion that followed, England were 7-0 up after only two minutes.
England could’ve got two more tries but both were disallowed by the TMO.
The first disallowed try was disallowed because Tom Curry was offside in front of the ball, technically obstructing Sam Whitelock who tried to tackle him. Sam Underhill was then able to go through and pop the ball over the try line. While any disallowed try is an annoyance, the decision was perfectly justified.
However, I couldn’t understand how what would’ve been England’s third try (if the TMO didn’t exist) was disallowed.
Five minutes into the second half, England were pushing the maul forward towards the try line well. Ben Youngs then collected the ball out of the maul before breaking through the New Zealand defence to score England’s second try. Like the first try, Nigel Owens saw nothing wrong with this.
However, Marius Jonker did. The ball was lost in the maul and was picked up again slightly forward and so the try was disallowed. This was a really strange decision and one that many fans of both camps disagreed with.
Without these disallowed tries, England could’ve won with a scoreline of at least 29-7 today.
England continued to drive for the try line whenever they had the opportunity but, whenever they felt that they couldn’t get past the All Blacks’ defence, they took their penalty advantage and went for penalty goals. Four of them were scored by George Ford today as England ensured that they kept the scoreboard ticking over.
New Zealand did have some possession of the ball but were thwarted by a tough English defence who managed to pressure the All Blacks into turnovers, interceptions and penalties.
The only major mistake made by England was their lineout in the 57th minute where Jamie George threw the ball straight over Maro Itoje’s head and into the hands of Ardie Savea who went over the try line to score New Zealand’s first and only try. Other than that, it was a brilliant performance from England.
So, England line up in a World Cup final for the first time in 16 years on Saturday when they will play either Wales or South Africa, who play their semi-final in Yokohama tonight. They should walk onto the field in the final with their heads held high knowing that they have the ability to beat either side, having beaten the All Blacks and the Wallabies in style in the knockout stages so far.
As a side note, the England rugby team have now followed the England cricket team in turning around a poor World Cup in 2015 where they got knocked out of the group stages to now be in the World Cup final. Can the rugby team follow in the cricket team’s footsteps and win the Rugby World Cup?
A nation watches in expectation.
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