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‘Now is not the time to be talking about things like that’
Steve Borthwick has steered clear of sharing his thoughts on the officiating of the scrum by referee Ben O’Keeffe in Saturday night’s Rugby World Cup semi-final.
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South Africa’s winning kick came from a 78th-minute penalty by Handre Pollard following the awarding of a scrum penalty, one of a number of set-piece infringement decisions that went against the English in the latter stages of the tense contest in Paris.
Rather than being able to protect a 15-6 lead, England fell victim to a late 10-point surge that swept the Springboks to their one-point win and into next weekend’s final against New Zealand at Stade de France.
“Around the scrum, I think the question was any issue. Now is not the time to be talking about things like that. Now is the time just to have the overall reflections,” he said.
The head coach also sidestepped a query about the disappointment that surely must have been felt by England’s props when the scrum was penalised. Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler were respective 53 and 56-minute replacements for front row starters, Joe Marler and Dan Cole.
“We’re all disappointed. We came here to win a game to go to the World Cup final and we have fallen short. We all truly believed we could do it and we came very close to doing it.
“In adversity, in these tough times, there is usually a seed of something that will grow and be something brilliant in the future.
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“Right now it’s too early for me to find that seed but we will make sure we find it, we will make sure we take some of what we went through, grab that and make sure it makes us stronger.”
Specifics were something that Borthwick simply didn’t want to embrace. “I’m not going to go into analysis of the game now. If you want to chat later in the week, I’ll give you a proper analysis,” he added, preferring instead to speak more generally about the 15-16 loss.
“The whole team performance was strong. We’re disappointed. We came with a plan to win the game but we fell a little bit short. Not far short but a little bit short. We’re desperately disappointed with it but the players should be incredibly proud of what they have done.
“In that 23 today, there were seven players 25 or under, the most of any semi-finalists. South Africa had one 25 or under, so there is a great blend within this squad and there will be lots of things we can take forward.
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“We put ourselves in a position to win against the world champions and the current world No1. The players did very well but we are disappointed because we thought we were going to win.”
There was kudos for the Springboks. “They are the world champions, the current No1 for a reason. They have a lot of very good players and are very experienced. That’s a proper Test match, an intense encounter.
“We were playing against a coaching team who have been in place since the middle of 2018. They did an incredible achievement to win the 2019 World Cup and since then have had continuous development, bringing players through and the coaching team has been really, really consistent.
“For us, we have had four months as a coaching team with the players. I’ve asked the players to approach training and the game in a different way; for the players to be willing to change is all credit to them. This was another example of that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
237 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
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