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Phenomenal!

Yet again, England have turned a small half-time deficit into a knock-out round victory in this year’s 2007 Rugby World Cup this time in the Semi-Final against the hosts France, scoring 6 points in the final six minutes to win the match 14-9.

My now traditional tactic of predicting an English loss has paid dividends, so don’t be surprised if I say that I expect whoever wins the South Africa – Argentina semi to take out this years Rugby World Cup. But, enough talk of the past, and the future, what of today’s game?

Lewsey Scores Early

As if to quell all the critics who so mournfully pointed out that England had failed to score a try in their quarter final match-up with Australia, England wasted no time in getting over the line today – with Josh Lewsey equalling Jonah Lomu’s fastest ever RWC semi-final try scoring time, scoring in just the second minute of play.

Andy Gommersall did what he does so often from the first breakdown of play and made a perfectly executed box-kick deep into French territory. The ball rolled, and bounced awkwardly for the French 14, and Lewsey, playing 11 steamed through, grabbed the ball and his momentum forced him over the line to land a good touch-down right in the corner.

Wilkinson narrowly missed this conversion wide to the left (as he has been more often than normal in the RWC this year).

French Fightback

If the English team had any thoughts of resting on their five point lead, these were quickly dismissed as the French kicked a penalty in the seventh minute.

Around ten minutes later, a French scrum was called around 30 metres from the English line, bang in front of the posts. The scrum met on the “engage” call, and collapsed soon after. The match referee immediately pinged Sheridan for not holding the scrum up, awarding the French a penalty, which they slotted to take the lead.

Billy Whiz shows his skills

As I said before the game, Jason Robinson was to be a key figure in this semi-final, and he showed some great ability when fielding a kick to drop it before he went out of play and come back in to avoid a line-out in English territory. Unfortunately for him, his quick-footedness fooled even the touch judge, who believed (wrongly) that he had taken the ball into touch, and awarded the line-out. England, as they would for the remainder or the match, dealt with this set-back, got on with things, and maintained their discipline.

Wilkinson, whose kicking boots have been misfiring slightly in this year’s World Cup, missed a penalty from within the English half, this time to the right-hand side of the posts, and also narrowly missed a drop goal attempt.

The French shaded the first half on possession and territory, but signaled their slight nervousness, and intent on gaining points at each visit by rushing several drop-doal attempts which never looked like going between the posts, when perhaps there were safer options available. The English were manful in defense, as they charged down a few French kicks, and won some good turnover ball.

There were no further points in the first half, and the teams went in at 6-5 to France, setting up a nervewracking final forty for both sets of fans.

Second Half

The second half had much to live up to in terms of desire and intent, and some good flowing rugby would have been nice. However, this was unlikely, as France continued their somewhat questionable (given England’s apparent back-line weaknesses) tactic of kicking good ball.

France got off the mark with another penalty.

England maintained their forward pressure, and kept things solid in defense, until, a good passage of play led to an English penalty on the French 22 metre line, tight to the left hand touchline. Wilkinson, as always, backed himself to slot this kick. And he did, in fine style – the higher the pressure, the better he seems to get.

Things continued with the scores locked at 9-8 to France for fifteen or twenty minutes, until, with fifteen minutes remaining in the match, the French had a chance to kill off the game.

The huge man, Sebastian Chabal, got the ball in hand, and ran at the English midfield. Perhaps the defining image of this game was four English backs struggling to topple the Galic giant, which they did. The resulting ruck gave England a rare penalty from a breakdown, which Wilkinson used to get out of the English half, from the 5 metre line.

Following this, England worked some good possession into a drop-goal attempt. Using his wrong foot, his right, Wilkinson nailed a drop-kick which looked horribly struck, though was heading the right direction, into the upright. From the resulting rebound, the French cleared straight into the arms of Jason Robinson, who used all his jinking speed to cut a path through the French lines, and almost all the way to the try line, as he ended his run deep within the French 22.

Soon after, Robinson took the ball as first receiver and set off on another run. This time, the first defender could only attempt a close-line as he went past. High tackle. Penalty England. Right in front. Three points. England had taken the lead, with six minutes to go, leading by 11 points to 9.

This seemed crucial, and the French players baulked quite markedly: they hadn’t scored for an age, nor looked like doing so, how would they get this one back? Had they given all they could?

Soon after, England got possession in the French half, and Wilkinson kicked a magnificent drop goal, under pressure, from over thirty meters – 14-9 England.

Sebastian Chabal showed the English why they were doing so well toward the end of the match: discipline. He gave away a penalty for another rucking infringement (there could have been more earlier), allowing England to clear their lines.

The whistle came soon after, and the English fans erupted. I woke up our neighbours.

How England Won it

I’ll have to repeat myself again, England won this game by one thing: discipline. Disciplined adherence to a well thought out game plan; discipline managing the referee (accepting decisions which look wrong); and traditional discipline – by playing within the rules, not giving away free possession or points in the form of needless penalties.

Their effort levels, and team performance were excellent. I have been fairly vociferous in my questions about Matthew Tait, he answered those questions today with a mature display. He took a cool catch just over the English line, running backward, with the ball dropping over the posts. He also made some good runs.

On the other hand, Sackey again looked poor. His tackling does not stand up to much scrutiny, he goes missing on occasion, and, for an international winger, is one of the worst at taking a ball into a tackle – failing to recycle, holding on, and giving away turnover balls again today.

Wilkinson showed his class, and he truly is a class act, as he improved throughout the match, and got it right when it mattered most with the boot.

The kicking for touch was generally poor from England, Mike Catt a particular culprit a couple of times. Robinson also skewed two clearances.

The forwards were dominant again, won turnovers, again, and showed they can get the job done even if the referee is not “in their camp.” By this, I mean to say that, while the South African officials were overall extremely good, and called it right most of the time, the scrummage was a little inconsistent. Sheridan was pinged early for dropping the scrum at the first attempt, yet the French failed to keep it up more than twice, and each time it was re-set. On such little margins, tight games are won and lost. England deserved it today, and they got it.

It’s the result that goes down in history, and England are in the final. Again. Roll on next week.

View the game’s defining moments here.