England defence can win World Cup says Farr-Jones
The middle-aged man occupying seat 91 in Row D of Section A in Oita got up, folded his gold scarf and climbed dejectedly towards the exit, his record safe for at least four more years.
After almost three decades, Nick Farr-Jones is still the last Australian captain to beat England in any knock-out match at any World Cup. He left this remote corner of Japan 491 miles from Tokyo more convinced than ever that England have what it takes to do what his Wallabies did at Twickenham in 1991 and carry the pot of gold home on the sweetest of chariots.
“To win the World Cup you need to have a great defence,’’ he said before disappearing into the night. “England have a great defence. Their flankers, six (Tom Curry) and seven (Sam Underhill) did a brilliant job, defensively.
“If it turns out to be the All Blacks in the semis, they will be concerned. That’s for sure. England have shown tonight that they have a squad to win the tournament. I, for one, will not be surprised if they do.’’
If England have been more ruthless in the tackle over 80 minutes, nobody could recall where or when. They reached a grand total of 196 to which those twin agents of destruction Underhill and Curry contributed 37 between them, outplaying their formidable opposite numbers Michael Hooper and the departing David Pocock.
Farr-Jones arrived fearing the worst, that the beaten finalists of four years ago would be too fragile, too hit and miss to stop the English rot. Six straight losses to England in three years meant that anything other than a seventh would put the first of the quarter-finals in the upset category. In the 28 years since winning the trophy for the first time, the Wallabies have now been counted out of four World Cups by England: at Cape Town in 1995, the final in Sydney in 2003 and in the last eight at Marseille four years later.
England hadn’t knocked anyone out since Jonny Wilkinson’s four penalties trumped Lote Tuqiri’s try at the Stade Velodrome, a match memorable for Andrew Sheridan reducing the Australian scrum to matchsticks. Despite his hulking presence, England only made it with two points to spare.
This time the result turned out to be as different as the venue, a city so far from the beaten track as to be close to a mountain, Takasaki, renowned for its wild monkeys. Before the end England’s stonewall resistance had driven the Aussies to such distraction that they wound up indulging in some monkey business of their own.
Any forlorn hope they had of a grandstand finish vanished when Kurtley Beale chanced his arm and threw Anthony Watson the last try. Instead of reducing the deficit, the Wallabies increased it by seven to 24.
“If England have been more ruthless in the tackle nobody could recall where or when”
Farr-Jones watched impassively from his seat, resisting all temptation to bury his head in his hands. He knew the game was up, hence Beale’s desperate attempt to retrieve a desperate cause; the full-back deserved some reward for his unfailing enterprise.
Instead it left Michael Cheika staring at the end of a bumpy road. After more than a few eruptions in recent weeks from their volcanic head coach, elimination will probably mean extinction in respect of his position with the Wallabies.
He had defied the odds to reach the last final, aided and abetted by the controversial penalty which Scotland saw as daylight robbery and still do.
England left nothing to chance, negotiating the first quarter with almost a carbon-copy of New Zealand’s start against South Africa three weeks ago.
Just as the All Blacks absorbed unrelenting Springbok pressure before hitting them with two converted tries, so England did exactly the same. They, too, withstood an immediate assault before bouncing off the ropes with two converted tries of their own, all in the space of not much more than two minutes.
When Marika Koroibete cut the lead to a single point with a try largely at Elliot Daly’s expense, Owen Farrell responded with the immediacy of a telling blow.
The pass of the match from England’s captain sent Kyle Sinckler stampeding along a clear path for another seven-pointer and Australia’s last hope floundered after they spurned the formality of three points in gambling for seven from a scrum.
A lesser team would have buckled. Sinckler’s rip lifted the siege, leaving the Aussies aground on English rocks with nowhere to go but home. For the Red Rose legions, its north to Yokohama and the final frontier.
“Any hope Australia had vanished when Kurtley Beale threw Anthony Watson the last try”