2023-10-15 19:31:15
England had a score to settle with Fiji. And for more than an hour, she believed that the task would be easy thanks to a solid defense against borrowed Islanders. But when we thought this quarter-final fell into a form of boredom at 24-10 in favor of the English, the madness returned to the Fijian legs, offering the Vélodrome stadium a dream final, extinguished with Olympian calm by the captain Owen Farrell with a drop worthy of the finest hours of the legend Jonny Wilkinson, present in the Marseille stands.
The XV de la Rose comes out on top (30-24) and here it is in the last four of the World Cup for the sixth time in its history (in ten editions), where it awaits France or South Africa , a whole new level of adversity. But “Boring England” is there and it’s already almost an achievement as she was sick just a few weeks ago. Terribly upset by the setback suffered at Twickenham at the end of August in front of these same Fijians (22-30), she has only aimed for one goal since then: to win at all costs.
This Saturday, she even found a certain sense of the beautiful game in the first half, showing her intentions from the kick-off. For 25 minutes, the English had enough to put the Fijian attack to shame and were rewarded with two tries from Manu Tuilagi (14th) and Joe Marchant (23rd). Under the eyes of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, Owen Farrell secured the points against the posts. With three penalties and a successful transformation, the opener allowed the English to return with a first advantage in the locker room (21-10).
Two tries in four minutes and the Fijians return to level
Fijian attackers? They are then too lonely to be dangerous. The paradox is that they found the fault, via the 3rd line Viliame Mata (28th), being reduced to 14 after the yellow received by winger Vinaya Habosi for a header in the face of Marcus Smith. After returning from the locker room, the situation did not change for more than 20 minutes. But England did not widen the gap, with Farrell notably missing a penalty. And as the minutes passed, the Fijian attack regained confidence: two tries scored in quick succession by Peni Ravai (64th) and Vilimoni Botitu (68th) brought the score to 24-24. Completely crazy.
The Vélodrome stadium, where all the non-English people support Fiji, begins to believe in the feat. But, lack of experience or naivety, or even a little of both, the Islanders offered a golden opportunity to drop Owen Farrell 10 m from the posts. Too easy for the English striker. Five minutes later, he passes another penalty to close the score (30-24).
Despite a final long Fijian offensive sequence, up to 6 minutes after the end of regulation time, and a voluntary forward from Farrell punished with a penalty but not a yellow card, this quarter-final went well in favor of the English.
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