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England won 71-0 but admit to 'danger of panicking a little bit'
By Liam Heagney
England skipper Owen Farrell has praised for team for not panicking during the opening part of Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Pool D game versus Chile in Lille.
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The table-topping English were expected to dominate their fixture against the tournament’s lowest-ranked team – and they eventually did as 11 tries ultimately gave them a convincing 71-0 win.
However, they were held to a 0-0 stalemate for the opening 20 minutes of a match in which Chile even visited the England 22 on a couple of occasions during that pointless first quarter.
That lack of a breakthrough could have affected their confidence, but they stuck at their task and went on to score three tries in a 10-minute spell and five in total before the interval to comfortably lead 31-0 at the break.
This composure to play their way through early adversity wasn’t lost on Farrell, the reinstated captain who was making his first appearance since his August 12 red card versus Wales in the Summer Nations Series resulted in a four-game ban.
It was Farrell who played a pivotal part in clicking England into gear, spurning the opportunity to kick an easy three points in front of the posts and risk reigniting the boos that were heard last weekend in Nice from fans fed up with their kick-dominated blunt attack.
He instead opted for a scrum with the penalty and when the ball was flushed out the back to him, he executed a booming long pass to enable Henry Arundell to walk in at the corner for the score that ignited the 11-try rout.
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“I thought we settled into the game pretty well,” reckoned Farrell. “I don’t know how long was on the clock that it was still 0-0. We had a couple of opportunities early on that we didn’t execute and we could have been in danger of panicking a little bit, and I thought the team really settled into that second 20 of the first half and got some good points on the board so that was pleasing.”
Farrell finished with eight successful kicks from his 11 attempted conversions, a 16-point haul that left him two points short of beating the 1,179 points record of Jonny Wilkinson. The England skipper wasn’t aware he was so close to the landmark, though. “It wasn’t on my mind. A couple of the lads mentioned it after the game.”
The selection of Farrell in the match day 23 along with six other players who had yet to taste any action in the World Cup meant that Borthwick’s squad of 33 now headed into their bye-week with all players having played some part in getting England to three wins from three and on course for a quarter-final in Marseille on the weekend of October 14.
“The enjoyment level has been good the whole time that we have been in,” Farrell suggested. “The enjoyment level has been good and we have been building like we want to get better as well. Over the last two weeks, the lads have performed brilliantly and the team changed a bit going into this week.
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“It’s been a great thing and the one thing that I know about World Cups having been involved in a few now is that it takes a squad effort, not just a squad but everybody that is here, the management, everybody involved with England at the minute.
“It takes a whole team effort to make it feel good, to make it feel like we are going in the same direction and the right direction and that is what it feels like at the minute.”
Not that there wasn’t fat to chew. England conceded just two penalties in the opening half against the Chileans. By full-time, though, that number had risen sharply to 11, meaning nine penalties were given up in a half where England dominated the scoreboard to the tune of 40-0.
“Just two penalties in the first half was an incredible performance by the team,” enthused Borthwick. “There were some matters that happened in the second half and I will have to look at each one of them individually, but you can see a team that conceded seven penalties in the first game of the World Cup, six penalties in the second game of the World Cup, and two penalties in the first half of the (third) game.
“As a team, we are averaging eight penalties conceded per game over the first three games. This is a team where discipline is very, very important. We will have a good look at all the penalties conceded in that second half and make sure they are eradicated for the next game against Samoa.”
Only France, Ireland and Wales remain unbeaten at the World Cup along with England, September progress that left Borthwick pleased following a Summer Nations Series where just one of four matches were won by his team.
“I’m pleased with the progress of the team through the tournament to the third game. The team is building as I said the team would and as you look at it how, I haven’t had the full medical report but everyone has come through the game fit and healthy.
“We then have Tom Curry available for the next game (after suspension) so at training, we will have 33 players available and in good condition, so that enables us to train properly building towards Samoa who are a tough, physical team that is well coached. I am excited for that.”
