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'It's very easy when you lose a man to hit the panic button'
Freddie Steward has shared his delight in Marseille about how England reacted so brilliantly to having to play with 14 men for their 77 minutes in their Rugby World Cup opener versus Argentina.
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There were only three minutes gone on the clock at Stade Velodrome when Tom Curry was yellow-carded for his head-on-head contact with Juan Cruz Mallia.
That sanction was soon upgraded to red by the foul player review officer but England reacted brilliantly to their third yellow-upgraded-to-red card in four matches, going on to beat the Pumas 27-10.
Those previous reds – for Owen Farrell in the 64th minute versus Wales in London and Billy Vunipola in the 53rd minute in Dublin – had given Borthwick’s team a taste of how to cope with being a red-carded man down.
It was also just six months ago when Steward himself was red-carded on the stroke of half-time in Dublin (a punishment rescinded to yellow at a subsequent midweek disciplinary hearing).
Marseille became the jackpot payout for all those man-down experiences. “Definitely, when you have been somewhere before it’s always easier to channel that. Throughout this whole pre-season there has still been genuine belief,” enthused Steward.
“It’s been said a lot; these are the games that matter. Coming into a World Cup, regardless of our form, we started on zero points. We had to be tough. Obviously, we lost Tom early on and I suppose it’s the ultimate test isn’t it: When you go a man down, can you still find something? We did.”
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George Ford was the jewel in the English crown, stroking over all 27 points that his try-less team scored. “He is one of those players that make it look so easy. He makes everyone else look great and that is the telling side of a player like George.
“He is a dream to play with. It’s so nice when you stand behind him and he is slotting drop goals for fun, it makes everyone else’s life a lot easier. He is such a tactician.
“It’s very easy when you lose a man to hit the panic button and everyone’s like ‘argh’ and heads are in the air, but George was ice cool about it and when you have one person doing it, it radiates around the team.
“To have someone like him at 10, you just trust him. You trust that he is going to make the right decision.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
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