Steve Borthwick saw it coming. Immediately after Fiji beat England at Twickenham, his side sent off on their French adventure by a chorus of boos, Borthwick made a prediction. “We knew they were an excellent side,” the England head coach said. “I think they are going to do very well at the World Cup. There’s the potential we might meet them again in a few weeks’ time.”
And here we are, seven weeks on, with England ready to reacquaint themselves with Fiji on Sunday afternoon. This is a World Cup quarter-final that does not much look like a World Cup quarter-final – a team beaten by Portugal a week ago against one that could only scrape past Samoa by a single point in their final pool game.
But even if these are two ordinary sides, this is an extraordinary opportunity. You get the sense that the Pacific Islanders were the potential opponent that England might have most liked to face at this stage. Any dance with Wales would have been fraught with danger given the pair’s familiarity with one another, while a possible encounter with Eddie Jones and Australia would have been close to unpalatable for a variety of reasons – Fiji’s losing bonus point against Portugal ensured England’s jilted ex was avoided.
England continue to be motivated by a belief that they have been written off too soon. The topic resurfaced again this week, with Billy Vunipola seemingly taking umbrage with the labelling of the four sides at the top of the world rankings as a class above the rest.
Well, England, now it’s time to prove the critics wrong. The Pacific Islanders’ threat is all too evident but they have just handed a nation its first-ever World Cup win – for Borthwick’s side, this is an eminently winnable quarter-final.
Knockout rugby is a results business but England, if they have any real ambition at this tournament, need a performance, too. A rendezvous with France or South Africa awaits if they get things right. Their head coach has challenged his side to stand up and be counted.
“You’ve got to take the opportunities that are presented to you and rise to the occasion of this game,” Borthwick said after revealing his team on Friday. “You never know what’s around the corner.
“As a rugby player, I thought I had an opportunity in 2003 and didn’t get picked. I went in 2007, and thought I’d be there in 2011. But I wasn’t – I played in one tournament.
Steve Borthwick has urged his team to ‘embrace this challenge’— (Getty)
“I want the players to embrace this challenge and have the time of their lives representing England. I want them to have a fantastic memory of this World Cup and I want the team to continue to get better and better. Let’s see how good we can be.”
You’d imagine that message will be much the same in the Fiji camp. None of their squad has ever played a World Cup knockout game but many have vast experience on the sevens circuit, with a smattering of Olympic gold medallists certainly knowing how to handle the pressure.
After working so hard to eradicate an erratic nature from his side’s game, the performance against Portugal would have frustrated Simon Raiwalui. It may be that the head coach and his staff may have been holding something back, both in terms of energy and tactical plan, for this last-eight encounter.
Like England, there are questions at fly half. Fiji are forced to hand Vilimoni Botitu the reins after an injury to Teti Tela. Botitu was one of the Tokyo 2020 sevens winners and a supremely gifted all-round talent – but has played almost the entirety of his career in the 15-a-side game at inside centre.
Flanker Levani Botia and centre Josua Tuisova are two of Fiji’s key individuals— (Getty)
He’ll have plenty of help on his shoulder, no doubt, with the usual array of frightening strike-runners out to cause havoc again after running amok at Twickenham in August. The breakdown battle will be brutal, and crucial – referee Mathieu Raynal will have to keep his cool.
“I think Fiji on its day are capable of shocking the world,” scrum coach Graham Dewes, scorer of the try that took Fiji through to their last quarter-final in 2007, said this week. “We’ve done it in the past, and if we stick to our gameplan, then we’ll do it again.
“On our day, we can match anyone. Sometimes when we play tier-two nations, we drop our standards. We don’t plan to do it but things happen on the day.”
“When we play the tier-one nations, if we get it right, we put them to sleep,” Dewes concluded. For England, another defeat to Fiji really would be a nightmare.
