SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: England had a eureka moment against Chile

09/23/2023 Rugby Union

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: This was the first time in a long time I can remember England playing with real pace and risk… they’ve finally arrived at this World Cup

  • England fans are entitled to get carried away after a beautiful performance 
  • This was a big night for England because of the way they won, not just the score
  • Owen Farrell must start at 10. He was superb and pulled the strings for the team 
  • Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results

England have arrived at the World Cup with a statement win that shows the way they must play the game from here on. People will say, don’t get carried away, it was only Chile, but England fans are entitled to get carried away because the win showed we do have the players to play this way and if we keep hoofing the ball away we can’t play that way. England played beautifully.

This was a massive night for England, not just because we beat Chile by 71 points, but the way we did it. It was about speed from lineouts, speed of ball, speed from rucking and running teams off their feet. If you are trying to be the best team in the world that is how to do it.

It was the first time I can remember for a long time we have got a team playing with some real pace and real risk. If you ask, can you imagine playing this way against South Africa, Ireland or France, the answer is unequivocally yes. If you have got the coaching and the mind-set to do it, you can, and this was a massive step forward.

This is the first time Steve Borthwick has coached a team to play like this and he would have learned a huge amount from last night in Lille. If you were a player, you would have loved playing in that match and the squad members on the sidelines would have been desperate to play in a game like that.

Henry Arundell (pictured) scored five tries during England’s 71-0 victory against Chile

Owen Farrell returned following a four-match ban to pull the strings for England during the match. He must start at number 10 

We spend so much time talking about selection and nowhere near enough time talking about how we play the game. Every England fan would have loved it and the key thing is, can they take that attitude and way of playing into the game against Samoa and then the quarter-final against Australia, Fiji or Wales? If you do that and you have got the right players, you have got a real chance.

It finally put a line through the end of the Eddie Jones era when the ball was like a ticking time bomb and all of that.

With Marcus Smith it is about getting your best players on the pitch. My back three would be Henry Arundell, who should have been in the team for a while, on one wing, Freddie Steward on the other and Smith at full-back.

The attacking kick to Steward on the wing is unstoppable and the three can interchange but you have to get Smith on the pitch. I always thought he was a good player but he surprised me last night.

England now sit top of Pool D on 14 points, nine points clear of Samoa, who they face next on October 7

Owen Farrell must start at 10. He was superb, and once someone like Farrell says: ‘This is the way we are going to play’, everyone plays that way. He did not over-play his hand and some of the stuff he did, like the quick tap penalty and the long left-handed pass to Arundell for his first try was great.

We want the ball quickly out of scrums, off the top of lineouts and if he leads on that, the team will do it because he is a great captain and a great leader. I would start him at 10 and have George Ford on the bench to come on and take the game to a new level.

Sometimes things don’t go your way and you have to adapt but England must go out there thinking this is the way to play. They have proved they can do it.

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