Silly Billy: Vunipola sent off as England's chaotic RWC build-up worsens in Ireland, France thump Fiji, Boks torpedo Wales

England head coach Steve Borthwick hopes for swift disciplinary resolutions after Billy Vunipola joined Owen Farrell as a Rugby World Cup doubt following his dismissal in a damaging 29-10 defeat to Ireland.

Captain Farrell watched from the stands in Dublin on Saturday as England slipped to a meek loss compounded by the second-half red card of Saracens team-mate Vunipola for ploughing into the head of Andrew Porter.

Influential fly-half Farrell was free to feature in the warm-up game but was ultimately left out following World Rugby’s appeal against the decision to overturn the red card he received in last weekend’s win over Wales.

With England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9 fast approaching, Borthwick faces potentially being without two of his key men through suspension for the start of the tournament in France.

He was tight-lipped on Vunipola’s tackle, but is eager for matters to be concluded quickly on the back of the disruption already caused by the ongoing Farrell saga.

“I’m not going to comment upon the incident specifically because it goes into a disciplinary process this coming week,” said Borthwick.

“Probably as every England fan, I feel disappointment in the game today and I said beforehand we want 15 players on the pitch for 80 minutes of every game.

“You’re playing the number one ranked side in the world in their stadium and to go to 14 men it becomes a very difficult task at that point in time.

Billy Vunipola looks on before being shown a yellow card. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“Hopefully we will find a conclusion on both matters this week and it won’t go into another week. Once I have all the facts, I will deal with them.

“We talked about the way this Test week was disrupted (by the Farrell situation) and I need to adapt throughout the week. It’s another challenge that’s been thrown at us.”

Ireland, on the other hand, are heading to the World Cup in strong shape, with Keith Earls’ 73rd-minute try on his 100th cap gaining the biggest roar of the evening.

It was one for the highlight reel, too, as the replacement wing took a miss-pass on the left wing and raced to the corner before placing the ball down and doing a flying forward roll at the same time.

England offered little at the Aviva Stadium, even before falling a man down when Vunipola’s 53rd-minute sin-binning was upgraded to a red on review.

Tries from centres Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose gave Ireland control at the break, before scores from James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Keith Earls sealed a comprehensive victory.

Replacement prop Kyle Sinckler crossed for England, but it was scant consolation on a difficult evening when stuttering World Cup preparations were thrown into further disarray.

“Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed with the result, the players kept fighting,” said Borthwick.

“I thought the players that came off the bench added on the pitch.

“Just before half-time at 7-3, we missed some opportunities and turned over ball in the final third, so we weren’t able to put enough pressure on them.

“When it was 15 against 15 it was a tight battle, unfortunately it didn’t stay 15 on 15.”

Ireland retained their place at the top of the world rankings courtesy of a 12th successive win.

Earls stepped off the bench to mark his 100th cap in style with his 36th international try as the hosts overcame a disjointed opening period.

Head coach Andy Farrell said: “It had a bit of everything: good, bad and ugly.

“I wasn’t too happy at half-time. We had them in a place where we could push a little bit harder and make it a little bit easier for ourselves but we didn’t kick on.

“I was really pleased that we found or rhythm back into the game. I thought we scored some great tries.”

Jaminet stars as France beats Fiji in warm-up

Fullback Melvyn Jaminet has kicked France out of reach of Fiji as they won their Rugby World Cup warmup Test 34-17 at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.

France scored three tries to two but recent Pacific Nations Cup champions Fiji – World Cup Pool C rivals of the Wallabies – closed to 14-10 in the first half and 24-17 in the second. 

Jaminet, however, slotted seven out of eight goal kicks for a match haul of 19 points to make a difference.

The defence was also sturdy. After Fiji were held off the tryline in the 74th minute, French supporters sang the national anthem “La Marseillaise” to begin celebrating their 13th straight home victory, the longest in the history of Les Tricolores.

“The French way of playing is to spread the ball wide, to force turnovers, and to have a very good defence,” France scrumhalf Maxime Lucu said. “We built our match on that. We didn’t change our habits. We scored by tiring that Fiji team.”

Jaminet capitalised on poor Fiji discipline to land three penalties in the first 10 minutes, and converted the opening try by hooker Peato Mauvaka. 

Flyhalf Antoine Hastoy, making his first start in more than two years, freed right wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, whose surge set up Mauvaka to power over.

Fiji hooker Tevita Ikanivere replied in kind, thanks to an accidental lineout overthrow. Flyhalf Caleb Muntz gathered and the forwards hammered the line before Ikanivere scored.

France regained the momentum when prop Uini Atonio crashed over under four Fijians to send the home side into halftime up 21-10.

Center Jonathan Danty made two crucial tackles in the second half, winning a penalty that Jaminet slotted in the 42nd and stopped a dangerous Fiji attack in the 55th. Danty and stand-in captain Gregory Alldritt were the only starters retained from the win against Scotland last weekend.

France remained under threat, and Fiji captain Semi Radradra touched down in the 50th for Fiji to trail 24-17.

The pressure from Fiji was broken in the 59th when flanker Sekou Macalou, just minutes after going on, intercepted a pass behind a lineout from scrumhalf Frank Lomani and sprinted untouched to the line.

Jaminet’s fifth and last penalty capped the scoring.

The game was the last opportunity for some players to impress France coach Fabien Galthie before he trims his World Cup squad from 42 players to a final 33 on Monday.

“The 23 players on the field showed solidarity, lucidity and courage, the three ingredients that were required today,” Galthie said.

France plays another warmup against Australia next weekend before opening the World Cup against three-time champions New Zealand in Paris on September 8.

Fiji have a last warmup against England next weekend before starting their campaign against Wales in Bordeaux on September 10.

Superb South Africa thrash sorry Wales 52-16

Wing Canan Moodie and centre Jesse Kriel ran in a brace of tries each as South Africa flexed their considerable muscle with a thumping 52-16 victory over Wales in their Rugby World Cup warm-up fixture in Cardiff.

Adding to the visitors enjoyment captain Siya Kolisi made a successful return from long-term injury.

Wales coach Warren Gatland names his 33-player squad for the World Cup on Monday and will have learnt much about his team from this home humiliation, in which they were out-muscled up front and out-thought with ball in hand.

Perhaps it has made our selection easier,” Gatland told reporters. “We will go back to the hotel tonight and have a chat with the coaches and then a final conversation in the morning (to decide the World Cup squad).

“Possibly some of the questions we had have been answered and it’s made things a little easier. It was disappointing. The only positive is the learnings they’ll hopefully take. The disappointing thing for me was the soft tries we gave away.”

In mitigation it was an understrength team that started with a backline containing only 39 caps. Nevertheless, it was a chastening afternoon for Wales who are in Australia’s World Cup group.

The Springboks scored eight tries in all on Saturday as hooker Malcolm Marx, flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit and replacement back Damien Willemse also crossed to go with a penalty try, though they will be concerned over a high error count and some poor kicking.

They had a lot of changes in their starting line-up but we had a plan and we executed it today,” Moodie told Amazon Prime.

“Fortunately for me I’ve got the backing of the coaches and teammates to get the best of my ability. You want to make the most of the opportunities.”

“They’re some big boys and they were really tough to go up against,” Wales captain Jac Morgan said.

Kolisi played a superb 40 minutes in his first international appearance in 2023 and will hope to add to that when the Boks play old foes New Zealand in a final warm-up fixture in London on Friday. 

Jaden Hendrikse and Ox Nche also appeared to come through the run-out unscathed.