2023-09-09 23:46:46
It only took one little man for England to regain some color. We won’t go so far as to say that she is invigorated after her victorious entry into the World Cup against Argentina (27-10) this Saturday evening at the Orange Vélodrome stadium in Marseille as the level of adversity raises questions, but success in these times and the setbacks it is undergoing is a really good thing to take.
Fourth in the last Six Nations Tournament, beaten (22-30) by Fiji in a preparation match on August 26 at Twickenham, this time it had a Ford in its engine. The pocket opener propelled his team to victory as surely as his cleats seemed magnetized by the opposing posts. It’s simple, George, his first name, scored 27 points and allowed himself a hat-trick of consecutive drops (27th, 31st, 37th).
George Ford scored all of England’s points. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra
Apart from that, these Englishmen remind the Blues of the dark times, before the arrival at their head of Fabien Gathié at the end of 2019. Same slowness, same inaccuracies with the ball in hands, same total lack of imagination. In their midnight blue jerseys, Steve Borthwick’s men even left to experience another evening of sadness. The ball upside down. First high tackle from third row Tom Curry in the third minute. Yellow card, which turns red according to the bunker rule and the seriousness of the gesture, while the player was serving his sentence at the edge of the field.
Under the eyes of Kate Middleton
Enough to redden the cheeks of the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, who came as godmother of the English Rugby Federation to support this XV de la Rose in decline, even in distress since its final lost during the 2019 World Cup against the Springboks. Kate Middleton was not the only one to have crossed the Channel. A stadium painted in white has grown up behind heavy and needy players, to the point of masking the presence of the Argentine contingent who came filled with the hope of a first triumph against the English enemy in a World Cup. For that, there would have to be Pumas on the lawn. And not big cats with filed claws and knock-kneed paws, incapable of the slightest ride, circumspect with the ball, clumsy in everything and not so unhappy with their lot.
Where has the grinta gone who so many times carried this team even beyond its expectations? No character, illegible tactics, failing individuals… We could easily cry for Argentina, a selection lost in a rugby that no longer seems made for it. World football champion, she is not sure, by playing like this, of qualifying for the final phase in a Group D which is nevertheless very weak with Japan, Samoa and Chile.
The players of Michael Cheika, former coach of Stade Français and coach of Australia, achieved the feat of being swept aside by the borrowed English whose appetite grew in the face of the absence of resistance, and the success of their fly-half George Ford.
Dots
England: 6 penalties (11th, 44th, 54th, 59th, 67th, 75th) and 3 drops from Ford (27th, 31st, 37th).
Argentina: 1 try from Bruni (80th), 1 conversion and 1 penalty (5th) from Boffelli.
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