It may take several days for them to dry out but England are into the World Cup semi-finals. While monsoonal rain in Auckland initially made this more akin to a game of water polo, there was never any danger of the Red Roses letting victory slip and 29 Tests have now passed since they were beaten.
The conditions were clearly always going to dictate England’s close-quarters approach and quite right, too. Knockout rugby is plainly not decided by aesthetic beauty and it was emphatically not a day for tossing the ball around. With Marlie Packer claiming a short-range hat‑trick, England still scored seven tries without doing anything particularly spectacular.
