Care’s late heroics give sloppy England late World Cup win against Samoa
A fourth win from four matches for England but this was undoubtedly a significant step backwards for Steve Borthwick’s side, who needed Danny Care to produce a late sniping try and a last-ditch tackle to see off an inspired Samoa side. The Pacific Islanders’ head coach, Seilala Mapusua, had promised an “unapologetic Samoan” performance and that is precisely what his side produced. For England, this was a sorry showing.
Samoa deserved their half-time lead after two fine tries from the veteran wing Nigel Ah Wong and were agonisingly close to sealing victory at the death when Neria Fomai just ran out of gas after yet another flowing move.
Steven Luatua, Theo McFarland and Fritz Lee were their standout performers while Lima Sopoaga gave them direction at fly-half but a famous victory slipped from their grasp.
England can take some credit for clawing their way back but their quarter-final opponents –most probably Fiji – will fancy their chances if they play like this.
Owen Farrell became his country’s highest points scorer – overtaking Jonny Wilkinson in the first half – but even he had a bad day at the office, allowing the shot clock to expire before taking a second-half penalty. It was a moment that summed up their sloppy afternoon.
“Allez les Bleus” rang out in the stands – a clear sign of who the French neutrals were backing. England, for their part, were booed at full-time.
From the opening minute they seemed off the pace, error-prone and sloppy. Manu Tuilagi was evidently fired up given he was playing against the country of his birth for the first time – his opening carry was thunderous and he made an impressive break on the right – but that aside, England were leaden. Borthwick’s decision to pair George Ford and Farrell together did not work and this was the kind of performance they were showcasing during their dismal warm-up campaign.
All the more concerning for Borthwick is that this was his side for the quarter-finals in all but name. After this showing, he may need to reconsider.
Farrell missed his first kick at goal – a conversion attempt after Ollie Chessum’s try, laid on by Tuilagi – but after 18 minutes he struck a penalty through the posts to move to 1,181 points for England, two more than Wilkinson. Farrell has been asked about the impending record for a while now and kept his bat dead straight at all times. It was a touching moment nonetheless when Jamie George, a longtime friend and Saracens teammate, ran over to put his arm around his captain.
Samoa were eight points down after Farrell’s historic penalty but undeterred. They had been given enough signs of encouragement they could cause England’s defence problems in the opening exchanges and enough sloppiness from their opponents to have further optimism.
Indeed, they produced the move of the match. With Luatua, McFarland and Duncan Paia’aua all showing up well, Samoa went through phase after phase, determined to keep the ball alive. They made headway on the right and a delightful tip-on pass from Luatua put Ah Wong away. Sopoaga converted to bring Samoa back to within a point.
Samoa were fizzing at this point. The scrum-half, Jordan Taumateine, fired a pass through his legs before McFarland stepped his way past Tuilagi and fed the hooker, Sama Malolo, who almost made it to the line. England infringed in the buildup and such was Samoa’s confidence that they kicked for the corner. It paid off when Ah Wong claimed a crossfield kick from Danny Toala and expertly dotted down.
after newsletter promotion
England were stunned and Samoa were over again two minutes later, Paia’aua the scorer after capitalising on a scrappy period of play to pounce on the loose ball and splash over.
Sopoaga had already had a kick at goal when the TMO, Brian MacNeice, intervened to rule the try out because of a marginal knock-on. Samoa’s sense of injustice was further fuelled when Ah Wong was denied a hat-trick – MacNeice’s decision was the correct one.
Samoa continued in the same vein after the break, Paia’aua almost breaking clear down the left before Sopoaga added a penalty after another concerted period of pressure.
Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?
Show
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Borthwick turned to Marcus Smith with half an hour to go, hooking Ford and installing the Harlequins livewire at fullback. His introduction seemed to shake his teammates to life and Chessum and Joe Marchant had tries disallowed before Farrell decided to take the points after he was hit off the ball – a demonstration of England’s anxiety.
Handling errors continued to haunt England, whenever they built up a head of steam before Farrell had the chance to kick his side to within three points, only for his error with the shot clock.
Samoa’s task of holding on was made all the more difficult, however, when Tumua Manu was sent to the sin-bin for tackling Farrell in the air and after a series of scrums under the posts, Care nipped in unopposed. Farrell wasted little time on this occasion and England were ahead with about five minutes to go before Fomai was denied at the last.