At the Stade de France,
It’s funny how a match can make you lose all your bearings. We were heading towards this semi-final between England and South Africa with the conviction that we would see the English pick up a nice one, a sort of childish consolation to give meaning to our lives after the great depression of the weekend. last. And here we are feeling something unclear and bordering on shameful for the lifelong rival after this elimination which took place in the very last minutes.
We will never like this English team, we shouldn’t push it either, but there is something about this match of the order of regret. A feeling perhaps (surely) biased by the fact that it was the South Africans opposite, and that they added to the blame of having shattered the dreams of a nation that of having delivered a wooden match . It’s true, what’s the point of taking our little Blues out and a week later showing themselves to be incapable of the slightest correct start of the game, so clumsy in touch and undisciplined in the rucks?
“It was ugly. We were terribly lacking in discipline in the first half, particularly in key areas where they could take points, admits captain Siya Kolisi. But in the second half we managed to come back to the strength of the wrist. We showed who we are and what we are capable of doing at 23.”
The English plan
Heckled from all sides, the Sprinboks relied on the bases, a big scrum carried by top-notch substitutes and the foot of Handré Pollard, who also came into play in the 30th minute, to succeed in turning the match around . The 50-meter penalty returned by the opener two minutes from the siren crucified the English, who had taken control from the 3rd minute and had not let go until then.
There is something quite admirable in the way Steve Borthwick’s men played the move. Taking advantage of the terrible weather, with continuous wind and rain in Saint-Denis, they applied a minimalist but terribly effective game plan, with big dispossession kicks to carry the threat into the opposing camp, before to fight like starving people in the groupings – and to apply themselves to receiving candles, in the process. In the words of scrum half Alex Mitchell, it goes like this:
The ball was very slippery, which gave a lot of importance to the kicking game. We put their rear triangle under pressure and we of course tried to dominate them in the static phases to find a way to gain ground and get three points when we could to progress on the scoreboard. This is essentially what we did. »
Result, a ratio of kicks/passes to make you wonder why you still like rugby (41 for 76, for example France was at 24 for 156 last week), but opponents confused and stunned by the skill by Owen Farrell, author of his team’s 15 points. The English could not in any case offer more or better, they who came back from nowhere, only third in the last two Six Nations Tournaments, beaten each time by Scotland, Ireland and France (including a humiliation against to the Blues at home, 10-53), taken over in an emergency by Borthwick after the chaotic end of Eddie Jones’ reign and authors of an embarrassing preparation (defeat against Fiji, red cards for Farrell and Vunipola) .
Not a good match, but a real match
In short, if it benefited from a very favorable draw to reach the last four, the XV de la Rose at least proved in this match that it had its place, which we very much doubted before the kick-off. He did with his weapons, and after the purge on Friday during the first semi-final, this lone rider of the All Blacks folded at half-time, we can thank them for having offered us not a great rugby match, but a real rugby match, at least.
“I’m disappointed, I thought we had done enough to win this match but unfortunately South Africa had not said its last word,” regrets the emblem of this team, Owen Farrell. It’s frustrating but I’m also very proud. Everything this group has done over the last few months has not been easy but today’s performance [samedi], losing narrowly like that against the reigning world champions, it makes me extremely proud. »
With a young guard cutting their teeth – seven players aged 25 or younger on the roster, including four starters – this team may have started to shape a future. We can rejoice about it from here, because the Tournament is even more beautiful with the English at their level. In the meantime, when you think about it, this strange feeling that passes through us after this meeting certainly comes from the disappointment of not having seen the little one beat the big one. Not sure it’s that nice for the English, after all.