England had nothing left over, but they are in the semifinals. La Rosa had to suffer until the last play to be able to defeat Fiji (30-24) and get into the top four of the 2023 World Cup, where he now awaits the host France o South Africawho will later face each other in Paris.
At the Velodrome in Marseille, the British team – which the group Los Pumas had won – won thanks to their star Owen Farrelldecisive in the key moments of the duel against the oceanic team.
The XV de la Rosa took the victory thanks to a drop and a penalty from Farrell, when Fiji had reached 24-24 in the 70th minute of the match.
For the semi-finals, on Saturday in Paris, England will have to find other resources beyond the privileged foot of Farrell against a rival with whom they will surely have unfinished business: the Blues won the Six Nations, in March in Twickenham, by a resounding 53-10, while the Springboks won in the final of the last World Cup, Japan-2019.
La Rosa took revenge for the defeat suffered, also at Twickenham, at the end of August, when they lost for the first time in their history against the willing Fiji team.
This time Steve Borthwick’s players were far from having a quiet afternoon, but they relatively controlled the duel until the Pacific team woke up, 24-24 and ten minutes left.
At one point the English team faltered. Prop Peni Ravai and flyhalf Vilimoni Botitu scored two tries in the 64th and 69th minutes. With the two conversions the game was tied.
England, who had conceded the same number of tries in the tournament as in this match (3), reacted thanks to Farrell’s foresight, first with a drop (72) and then with a penalty (77).
Kate, Princess of Wales, was watching England’s victory over Fiji in the Rugby World Cup. Photo: AP / Pavel Golovkin
Under the gaze of Princess Catherine of Wales, present in the box, Farrell came a little closer to the legend Jonny Wilkinson both in weight in the game and in the race to be the all-time leading scorer (1,206 points compared to 1,179).
2023-10-15 17:20:33
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