By Lucky Maree
➤ Just when you thought England had hit rock bottom they sink even deeper into the icy waters of the North Sea.
They started their week last Saturday by conceding five tries to Ireland, while managing to score only one try themselves. In the process, England’s eighthman Billy Vunipola got a red card which means he will miss some World Cup opening matches. We all know that Owen Farrell’s dangerous tackle means he will miss at least their first two World Cup matches.
Could it possibly get any worse for Steve Borthwick and his Red Rose? They are, after all, the very best England has to offer.
Yes it can. For the first time in history, Fiji have beaten England at Twickenham.
Fiji are never an easy team, but considering that they have lost all four of their previous international matches, you would have thought England would do the job.
England scored first but Fiji scored tries before and after halftime. England responded with two tries late in the second half, but a Fiji try late in the half buried England’s hopes.
Borthwick has now lost five of his six matches as England coach. Guess who the fans will favour when England and Argentina meet at the World Cup on 9 September.
➤ Samoa played their best rugby of the year as they conceded a narrow victory to Ireland. They will be happy that they are clearly hitting the straps at exactly the right moment.
What positives can Ireland possibly get out of such a narrow victory over a so-called second-tier team? In the first place, unlike England, Ireland didn’t collapse. They didn’t play their A team and they struggled against the hard-as-nails Samoans, but they held on.
It’s not the victory they would have hoped for but winning by three tries to one is still important. Once again, Ireland have shown that when it matters, they still know how to win.
➤ “Watch out for Argentina,” is the word from many World Cup experts.
Argentina, in preparation for the match against England, scored nine tries against Spain. That was no surprise, but the way the Argentinians went about their work was impressive. They are clearly ready for the World Cup.
➤ In the end, Scotland beat Georgia by five tries to nil, but Georgia’s brutal physicality was clearly a problem for the Scots. It took them until the second half before they scored their first points.
Again Duhan van der Merwe starred with two tries, but he was clearly frustrated when he wasn’t given room to move. Nienaber and Erasmus would have noticed that.
(Talking about brutal physicality, if the Scots are craving physicality, the South African bomb squad will happily oblige them on 10 September.)
England (3 tries) 22-30 (3 tries) Fiji
Ireland (3 tries) 17-13 (1 try) Samoa
Argentina (9 tries) 62-3 (0 tries) Spain
Scotland (5 tries) 33-6 (0 tries) Georgia
Pictured above: Duhan van der Merwe. Impressive as always.
Image source: @worldrugby
