Shambolic England face early World Cup exit without drastic action

Jan 11, 2024

Steve Borthwick’s side played with the weight of the world on their shoulders in their first defeat at the hands of Fiji

We are running out of synonyms for crisis. Turmoil, disaster, catastrophe, disarray, calamity … put them all together and they barely do justice to England’s predicament. They had never failed to beat Fiji by less than double figures before this but as the clock ticked down in the final few minutes the Pacific Islanders could bask in the glory of their history-making feats. The blue Fijian flags fluttered in a sun-soaked corner of Twickenham, their supporters dancing with delight. England’s white flags had long since been waved.

Fijian pitch invaders were embraced by their teammates, England supporters – those who turned up – slinked out with their side at a new ebb. It is tempting to herald this as England’s most embarrassing defeat but that does scant justice to Fiji who have been knocking on the door of rugby union’s established elite and now smashed the door down.

The upshot is that not since the Normandy landings has a group of Englishmen crossed the Channel with such dread. England’s World Cup campaign is descending into farce. They are playing like a side with the weight of the world on their shoulders and unless drastic action is taken in the next fortnight, they are staring down the barrel of a second-ever pool stage exit, eight years after their first.

Here, they missed 27 tackles and defensively they were desperate. Steve Borthwick keeps insisting his players are getting tighter and tighter together but maybe it is time for sharing a few home truths.

Fiji won by eight points, thanks to Simione Kuruvoli’s smartly taken try with eight minutes to go. But more than that, they won it in the period in the middle of the match, when the heavens opened and unleashed biblical rain.

In those moments, England shrank into their shells after a bright start. Fiji, on the other hand had the courage of their convictions. There was a shrewdness to them, box-kicking to Freddie Steward, whose normally rock-solid handling was anything but, though they kept playing, kept tipping the ball on, kept carrying the fight to England. They knocked on, and they didn’t care and they came again.

They had a try harshly disallowed, they had a yellow card for the loosehead prop, Eroni Mawi, but they had the wherewithal to keep their heads and brush those setbacks aside.

Semi Radradra took a little while to get going at inside-centre but once he found his stride and left considerable marks on England’s defence. George Ford and Max Malins in particular felt the full force of the former Bristol centre. There were streaks of lightning above the Twickenham pitch and Radradra brought the thunder down below.

Fiji stuck to their processes. Their wings, Selesitino Ravutaumada and Vinaya Habosi, could do with polishing up their backfield coverage but, that said, let’s focus on what they can do. Namely, burn past England’s wings, leaving Jonny May and Malins with twisted blood.

Fiji have always threatened to be contenders to advance through their World Cup pool that also features Wales and Australia – both teams in transition – but now there will be expectation. They could even be England’s opponents in the quarter-finals in France – should Borthwick’s side get that far.

England’s muddle only gets harder to unravel. They have problems off the field – injuries, suspensions and apathy from supporters reflected in such poor ticket sales to the extent that the top of the three tiers was closed – and they have now completed a warm-up campaign, failing to deliver anything like the sort of performance they promised would eventually come.

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It is tempting to say the enduring image of this match was Owen Farrell and the rest of England’s injured or suspended players sat in the top tier, surrounded by empty seats. That label belongs to the jubilant Fijian faithful, however, for this has been a long time coming for them.

England actually began the match well enough. Alex Mitchell brought tempo in the opening stages and May even scored the opening try, ending England’s wait for a try from the backs at a few minutes over six hours. But they are so short on confidence they could not build upon it until Marcus Smith threw caution to the wind when introduced at full-back.

The players have sought to take ownership of the gameplan of late, to free themselves of the straitjackets that Borthwick’s tactical tendency will almost bring about. It matters little, however, if they cannot make their tackles and that is 23 tries conceded in their past six matches. If that is a consistent problem, the fact that different facets of the game are falling apart on a weekly basis is all the more concerning.

In previous warm-up matches, they have managed to rally in the closing stages but the impending embarrassment was too much to handle this time. Joe Marler was lucky his first tackle after coming off the bench was not reviewed in more detail while Danny Care’s first act was to knock the ball on.

George Ford’s failure to kick the ball off the field then directly led to Fiji’s decisive try. These are elementary mistakes and the only conclusion to draw is that England are going backwards. They certainly have done since the decision to sack Eddie Jones and a penny for the thoughts of the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney. That he refuses to put his head above the parapet only underlines the current shambles at Twickenham.