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The 'five or six minutes' warning that has Elliot Daly clued in
By Liam Heagney
Think painful memories of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final have England focused for this Saturday’s semi-final rematch with the Springboks in Paris?
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Think again. It’s far more recent memories that have players such as Elliot Daly on edge with a view to improvement.
England were coasting last Sunday, 24-10 ahead in their quarter-final with less than 20 minutes left on the clock in Marseille when things went awry.
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Two converted tries conceded in the space of four wounding minutes turned what should have been a comfortable conclusion versus Fiji into a fraught one and it needed an 86th-minute breakdown turnover penalty before the 30-24 success was finally confirmed.
That defensive double whammy took the Fijians just three minutes less to achieve than the seven minutes Samoa needed the previous weekend to score two converted first-half tries.
No wonder concentration is now a much-desired English wish against South Africa. “It’s massively important,” admitted Daly.
“We have probably shown how our defence is getting better each game. Against Fiji, we lacked that for five or six minutes and they scored two tries.
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“We know we can’t do that in a semi-final. We know that we need to get better this week and hopefully we can stay on task in that regard.”
England will hope their defence is tightened by the recall of Freddie Steward in the No15 shirt, with Marcus Smith unavailable for selection following a setback with his return to play protocol after he got bashed around against Fiji.
“Freddie has been brilliant since he started playing for England,” assured Daly. “The confidence he has shown since the start of the World Cup campaign has been brilliant.
“He is a rock at the back under the high ball, he is really grasping the attack game now, he is making really good decisions on the edge which is putting me in space usually, which is nice.
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“He is a quality player, we back him all the way. The relationship with us in the back three now (along with Jonny May) is brilliant. We can talk to each other on the field and make sure we are in the right positions and try to take advantage of any space.”
With host nation France eliminated by South Africa, England can count on having more support at Stade de France than initially expected as a load of tickets have changed hands since last Sunday’s quarter-final results. Daly rates the importance of this backing.
Spirits were high when England arrived for their final pre-Rugby World Cup semi-final training session in Paris on Friday, the joking Jamie George and Tom Curry leading the way. #RWC2023 #ENGvRSA #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/3A4BdNOwiw
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 20, 2023
“Massive, in my opinion,” he claimed. “Last weekend against Fiji it was amazing to look up and see how many white shirts were in the crowd. In all the games we have had so far, the support has been unmatched.
“Hopefully they can bring that Saturday. We do hear it. It is very loud in these stadiums and it really does spur us on. If we can keep going with that it will be brilliant for us.”
The last word goes to that hoary chestnut, whether 2019’s final loss has any bearing on this weekend’s clash? “It was disappointing four years ago but the feeling around this team is very different.
“I had a bit of time out from this squad and to come back in, there is a different feeling within this group. All of the planning of the last year, two years, has gone into this, to hopefully perform to our best at the weekend.”
England need to invest in some wingers who can score tries. Daly is a centre who in his youth had the pace to be a decent winger. May was a top winger a few years ago but has lost his magic and at fullback we've got a very dependable, very slow Freddie Steward. Surely no team has receahed a world cup final with such a lackluster back three? Even if you're playing a kick heavy game, to compete at the top level you need some backs who can pull a rabbit out of a hat. For all SA’s mighty forwards, if they had Daly and May on the wing they would have lost heavily to France. (Potentially less 2 tries and a charge down?)
Arundel and Radwan are two electric wingers who don't get picked because they don't fit the mold or have perceived weaknesses (or potentially punched Farrell?). I'm sure Arendse and Kolbe came up against similar criticism but the coaches recognise their rare talents are worth their weight in gold and have invested in them.