England 16 Scotland 12:ONE DAY England will play to their potential and leave the off-field scandal to others. For the moment, though, they are proof that embarrassing conduct and mediocre rugby are no barrier to World Cup advancement .
By some bizarre reversal of logic and gravity – let’s call it Johnson’s Law – England are into the last eight, two victories away from a third successive final. Their next opponents are France, a team in utter disarray. Somebody, somewhere still loves them.
Back in 2007, England lurched from one calamity to another, only to battle their way to a final against South Africa. Four years on, they have had a similarly surreal first month and lived even more dangerously. With 24 minutes left against the Scots, they trailed 12-3 and seemed on the brink of catching a flight home to an uncertain future. The strain on the face of Martin Johnson did not require any subtitles.
Even the traumatised French, when they watch a recording of the first 40 minutes, may feel better about themselves. While England’s fitness and nerve passed the test in the second half, they are starting games with all the composure of a pub team who have just got changed in the car-park.
“As you go through the tournament – and we hope to – you’re going to play better teams by definition,” said Johnson, acknowledging that England would be punished more severely next time. “You can’t be six or nine points down . . . we’ve got to hit the ground running. It certainly wasn’t the start we talked about.”
On the plus side, England are defending splendidly, with one try conceded in 320 minutes of rugby in Pool B. They were lucky, nevertheless, that the Scots squandered at least two good chances in the match on Saturday, most obviously when Nick De Luca failed to pick up the ball five metres short rather than going for a sliding dive which might have carried him over and given his side an unassailable lead. Had Scotland merely needed a victory, rather than a win by more than seven points, it is unlikely they would have let the English nick it in the way they did.
Does any of this matter, though? England, proven knockout specialists, are still unbeaten, still in the running and hard to beat even when they are struggling for tempo and rhythm. At some stage they might even manage to bring the prolific Chris Ashton into the game before the hour.
Outsiders can complain all they like about England’s apparent lack of imagination but until Johnson’s team get run off their feet by opponents playing champagne rugby at a major tournament, he is not about to alter his view that World Cups are won more by suffocation than freedom of expression.
ENGLAND: Foden, Ashton, Tuilagi, Tindall, Armitage, Wilkinson, Youngs, Stevens, Thompson, Cole, Deacon, Lawes, Croft, Moody, Haskell. Replacements: Easter for Moody (53 mins), Palmer for Lawes (56 mins), Hartley for Thompson (67 mins), Flood for Tindall (71 mins), Corbisiero for Stevens (72 mins), Wigglesworth for Youngs (73 mins), Banahan for Wilkinson (75 mins).
SCOTLAND: Paterson, Evans, Ansbro, S. Lamont, Danielli, Jackson, Blair, Jacobsen, Ford, Murray, Gray, Kellock, Strokosch, Barclay, Vernon. Replacements: Parks for Jackson (4 mins), De Luca for Evans (40 mins), Hines for Strokosch, Rennie for Barclay (both 64 mins), Dickinson for Jacobsen (67 mins), Cusiter for Blair (71 mins).
Referee: C Joubert (South Africa).
