In Marseille
FAVORITES
As since the start of the competition, the XV de la Rose was not flamboyant this Sunday against Fiji. But once again, he won (30-24). In a crisis of confidence two months ago, the English are in the last four and have taken their revenge on a team which had beaten them in preparation, at Twickenham. In the first half, they scored two tries on their two main chances, and took points on almost all their forays into the opposing camp. In the second, they limited the damage during the big opposing moment which saw the Fijians return to equality (24-24), before getting back in front on an opportunistic drop from Owen Farrell (72nd). The opener then delivered the blow with a new penalty (78th) which sealed the fate of this meeting, but did not prevent them from trembling until the end.
The Fijians will have played 20 minutes, time to show that they did not arrive at this stage of the competition for the third time by chance. With two tries scored in less than five minutes, the men of the Pacific completely restarted this quarter-final. Sharp runs, passes after contact, risk-taking, breakthroughs! Even Semi Radradra, transparent until then, got involved. A lack of control, combined with English realism, ultimately condemned Simon Raiwalu’s players, although they came back on level terms and were pushed by a large part of the public at the Vélodrome stadium. On a final penalty, they only found a small touch and were penalized for the 11th time in the match. They abandoned all hope of achieving the feat of the World Cup.
His defensive slaughter, his scratches and his success in the alignments no longer need to be presented. But this Sunday, the Saracens second line also stood out with unprecedented offensive activity. This is evidenced by his crazy run in the first half, when he took advantage of a turnover ball to infiltrate the Fijian camp, cross and score. At half-time, he was the English player who had covered the most meters (56). His forward on a Fijian dismissal at the very end of the match tarnished his performance a little, but Maro Itoje remains essential to England.
CLAW STRIKES
So many approximations, hand mistakes, errors of judgment… Fiji’s three-quarter line was not up to the task, especially in the first period. This is evidenced by this scrum obtained after a crude forward from Courtney Lawes, who offered a good ball to negotiate at the entrance to the 22 meters, on the edge of the sidelines. He could have been spread towards the arms of Semi Radrada for a try in the corner. From the blackboard. But the Fijians preferred to play upwind and conceded their sixth penalty of the match. We can also cite Ilaisa Droasese, whose risky restart (52nd) conceded a touch which led to a new English penalty. The observation is all the more frustrating as with each ball thrown out, the Fijians put the English in danger. The proof being the two tries scored in quick succession by Peni Ravai (64th) and Vilimani Botitu (68th) which completely revived this match, which had been quite dull until then.
If Frank Lomani had converted the two missed penalties in the first half, Fiji would have returned to the locker room with a deficit of 5 points, not 11. Which might have changed the situation. The ineffectiveness of the scorer, who only had a 78% success rate before the match, cost his team dearly. Replaced in the 56th minute by Simione Kuruvoli. He also missed 3 valuable points. It would have been difficult to see Fiji going any further with such a weak point.
Usually a fly-half and substitute since the start of the competition, the young Harlequins player (24 years old) was started at full-back by Steve Borthwick. Not a real success. Smith lacked sharpness with the ball in hand and was particularly targeted by the Fijian attackers in defense. To the point of coming out bloody and on concussion protocol in the first half, and being completely knocked down by the Josua Tuisova tractor in the second. He was also guilty of a much too daring restart in the 16th minute which could have been costly if Frank Lomani had not found the post on the penalty.
While they seemed to have the match well in hand by leading 24-10 in the 60th minute, the English saw the Fijians come back to score. Maybe they already saw each other in the semi-final. They purred quietly before a tense end to the match. Overall, they will not have shown great control, like Tom Curry, omnipresent in defense (19 tackles) but guilty of two gross fouls. In the same way, Owen Farrell, elected man of the match with 20 points, sent the ball directly into touch in the 47th minute. Even Maro Itoje was at fault by committing a header in the 78th minute on the Fijian dismissal, while the English only had to control the last 120 seconds to win the match. What followed was a crazy action, a forward from Farrell deemed voluntary by Mathieu Raynal, a penalty and finally the deliverance! God save English rugby! Will this last another week?
