Rugby World Cup: England avoid Fiji upset thanks to the boot of Owen Farrell

England 30 Fiji 24

When England touched down in France in late August they would definitely have settled for where they now sit. World Cup semi-finalists, five wins on the spin and, in theory, the chance of reaching a second successive final. It is not their concern that, as demonstrated again by New Zealand and Ireland on Saturday night, the gulf in quality between the two halves of the draw has been so pronounced.

They also had to survive a proper scare, with Fiji pulling back to 24-24 with 11 minutes left only for a drop-goal and a penalty, his fifth of the evening, from their captain, Owen Farrell, to restore some order. First-half tries from Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant had initially given them control of a hard-edged contest but their sense of relief at the final whistle was entirely genuine.

Without Farrell’s right boot and a dramatic late interception and 50-metre burst from Ben Earl which tilted the contest back in England’s favour at its most delicate point, it might have been a wholly different scenario. As it is, Steve Borthwick’s side are just 80 minutes away from making the final which even their closest friends and families would not have dared to imagine seven weeks ago.

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It was uncomfortably tight, though, with Fiji enjoying a late 15-phase attack which kept the English defence honest right until the final whistle. If nothing about the game was ever quite as spectacular as Fiji’s kit, a glorious erupting volcano of black and glowing lava, England were clearly energised by the possibility this might prove their last-chance saloon and challenged Fiji’s big men with some no-nonsense physicality of their own.

They will also be delighted by the way they nullified their opponents’ attacking threat at key moments. The foundations of good sides are built on defence and, aside from some second-half wobbles, England were enthusiastically resolute. It was certainly an improvement on the previous week’s effort against Samoa and their 30-22 defeat to the same opponents at Twickenham in August.

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Despite that ominous precedent, thousands of white-shirted England fans had made the hopeful pilgrimage to the south of France. Spotted on the metro was none other than Mick Skinner, who knows a little about big hits in World Cup quarter-finals. The former Harlequins ‘bosh’ merchant would have relished some of the early exchanges, with his compatriots clearly keen to make an early impact with and without the ball.

Their reward was two tries within the opening 23 minutes, the first a skittling score from a rolling Tuilagi in the left corner and the second a stretching effort from Marchant to reward a prolonged period of pressure in the Fijian 22. The Pacific islanders were also creating their own self-inflicted problems, the wing Vinaya Habosi being sent to the sin-bin following head contact with Smith and Frank Lomani missing two of his first three penalty shots.

Aside from a no-arms tackle on Josua Tuisova by Tom Curry, England’s line speed and discipline were also proving effective after a couple of early breakdown penalties in their opponents’ favour. At 15-3 down, a 14-man Fiji badly needed some kind of pressure release and it momentarily materialised when Viliame Mata straightened and drove hard to score just before the half hour.

With Courtney Lawes being unceremoniously dumped over the sideline by a posse of tacklers, England were suddenly having to weather a mini storm. A couple of Farrell penalties had increased their lead to 21-10 by the interval and the odds on a repeat of their 30-22 Twickenham shocker in late August began to lengthen.

To the Fijians’ lasting credit, though, they were far from finished. Two tries in the space of five minutes, the first from the replacement prop Peni Ravai and the second courtesy of their lively outhalf Vilimoni Botitu, dragged England back into the trenches. Would this be the last stand for some of their older figures? No sooner had the thought occurred than Earl and Farrell, Saracens teammates and never knowingly beaten, intervened to sooth English nerves.

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This, though, was a Fijian side who lost to Portugal last time out. And, like England, changed their head coach only months out from the World Cup. Simon Raiwalui deserves enormous credit for strengthening his team’s foundations but his side are still required to overcome logistical obstacles that their English counterparts can barely conceive.

Beneath the curved roof of this steep-tiered venue, for all those reasons, England’s performance has to be viewed in relative terms. They remain cussed, stubborn and admirably up for the fight but it still requires a huge leap of the imagination to see them hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup aloft in a fortnight’s time. Better, perhaps, to take it one game at a time, congratulate Fiji for their gallantry and wait and see what miracles the semi-final weekend might conceivably bring.

- Guardian