Image Credit: Sky Sports
By Lee Clow
26 October 2019 | Rugby World Cup
England booked their place in the 2019 Rugby World Cup after dismantling defending champions New Zealand 19-7 in the semi-final.
England started with bang and stormed into the lead after 90 seconds. An offload by Kyle Sinclair to George Ford set up an attack for England which Manu Tuilagi finished off to stun the All Blacks in the opening stages. England’s early try paved the way for them to out play New Zealand all over the park.
Owen Farrell scored the following conversion giving England a 7-0 lead after 3 minutes.
On 26 minutes, England thought they had scored second try when Underhill cleverly skipped through untouched, but after a lengthy TMO review, the try was ruled out due to an obstruction ahead of the ball by Tom Curry. This was a huge let off for New Zealand who remained in touching distance with England.
England started off the second half as they did in the first on the front foot and nearly added to their score from a penalty. Full back, Elliot Daly, attempted long range penalty from his own half but his effort just fell wide of the posts.
Moments later, England thought they made it 15-0 when Ben Youngs scored following a driving maul. However, TMO stepped in again and for the second time ruled out England’s try because of a knock-on in the maul beforehand. To much disappointment of the England fans, New Zealand were rewarded with a scrum, keeping them in the game.
After 50 minutes, England were rewarded with another penalty and Ford once again dispatched it well making the score 13-0.
Seven minutes later, England made their first mistake of the game and this allowed the All Blacks to capitalise and punish them. Jamie George unforgivably threw a lineout straight into the clutches of the unmarked Ardie Savea, who easily flopped over the line to score New Zealand’s first try.
Richie Mo'unga's stepped up for the conversion and finished it well, cutting England’s lead to 13-7 and setting up a frantic final 20 minutes.
Despite the blow, England remained strong and responded immediately by winning a penalty. Ford once again stood up and added to his and England’s tally making the score 17-7. From this moment New Zealand’s inspired comeback looked dead and buried with England on course to reaching their first Rugby World Cup final since 2003 when they last won the coopetition.
In the closing stages of the game, New Zealand were awarded a penalty deep into England’s half, but it was soon reversed when replays showed Sam Whitelock pushing Farrell in the face.
Following this England were rewarded with a final penalty when Brodie Retallick was penalised in a maul. Ford scored his fourth penalty making it 19-7 to England, wrapping up an all-time classic in World Cup history.
As the full-time whistle blew, huge cheers filled the ground as Eddie Jones’ England booked their place in the World Cup final for the first time since 2003. A fantastic performance all over the park by England will certainly give them huge belief and confidence going into the final next week.
After the game, Eddie Jones spoke to the media about today’s game: "What we've done is earn another week in the comp, which is great. I thought our tactical discipline was great, our defensive work-rate was good. I thought when we had opportunities to attack, we attacked well.”
"You want to go right to the death and we're in the death now. We've got another week to enjoy ourselves and work as a team. Our players made a commitment to each other that they'd enjoy the World Cup and I think we're seeing that.”
"Whenever you play against New Zealand, you're never happy. You might beat them on the scoreboard, but you never really beat them. They kept coming at us and we needed to dig deep and a find a bit extra.”
"We've come here to be the world's best and we haven't done that yet, so that's where we need to go."
New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen also spoke after the game congratulating England on their success: "Congratulations to England - they played a tremendous game of footy and deserved to win. You cannot give them half a step, but they took it.”
"I am really proud of our team. They have done a tremendous job, but we were not good enough. We take it on the chin. The boys tried their guts out and I am proud of them."
What’s next?
England will play the winners of the other semi-final between Wales vs South Africa next Saturday in the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The semi-final between Wales vs South Africa will be played tomorrow at 9am (BST).
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