By the time England face Argentina on Friday night, they will have been around France in 57 days.
What started with a 27-10 win over Argentina in Marseille will finish with a battle for third place against them.
England arrived in Le Touquet on August 31, and embarked on a tour of the country and their own ambitions en route to Saturday’s semi-final with South Africa.
When Phileas Fogg went around the world in 80 days, his manservant Jean Passepartout provided all the ways and means to meet that madcap deadline.
England were almost the Passepartout of this tournament – the literal translation being “pass through everything” but the common usage being skeleton key.
Steve Borthwick’s resurgent side have done anything other than gone round in circles in France, and so nearly unlocked this competition in stunning fashion.
Saturday night’s agonising 16-15 defeat by the Springboks will see the door close on a clutch of England careers, as time catches up with some Borthwick’s most experienced men.
For so long after the 2019 World Cup final, England were doomed to a series of false starts under Eddie Jones, to the point where the RFU sacked the taskmaster Australian in December.
Borthwick had little time to turn England from a team that “weren’t good at anything” into potential world beaters.
The 44-year-old former Leicester head coach has come far closer to achieving the ultimate goal than many had expected. But it is South Africa who will face New Zealand for the Webb Ellis Cup in Paris on Saturday night.
By that time, Borthwick will already be plotting England’s new voyage. Rugby has become fixated with four-year cycles, and how to exploit all the time between global battles in order to peak for the World Cup.
South Africa needed less than two years of Rassie Erasmus magic to lift the 2019 trophy in style, though. And Borthwick almost took England to the final this time around with just nine preparatory matches and 10 months at the Red Rose helm.
Ireland had built steadily, carefully and meticulously right across Joe Schmidt’s tenure from 2013 to 2019, then Andy Farrell stepped up to the top job and coaxed the team to new heights.
France had dominated for two years, only to slip out at the quarter-finals of their home World Cup, while Ireland were undone by the previously erratic All Blacks.
All talk of the World Cup cycle surely now has to be consigned to the bin
New Zealand suffered their heaviest-ever Test defeat as recently as August 25, the 35-7 thumping by South Africa at Twickenham. The All Blacks fielded a full-strength side and were thrashed.
All talk of the World Cup cycle surely now has to be consigned to the bin. So while England will say goodbye and bon voyage to a nucleus of senior men whose Test careers will come to a natural end, Borthwick is not about to turn a state of flux into a totally new start.
England’s post-World Cup development will be evolution, and will centre around a host of experienced men continuing to press forward. Borthwick’s prudence and foresight saw England produce their best hour of rugby since the 2019 World Cup in Saturday’s South Africa battle.
England blitzed the Boks, who were rattled and forced into a string of uncharacteristic errors. The Red Rose men could not quite press home their advantage at the last — but from a 30-22 defeat by Fiji at Twickenham on August 26 to the cusp of the World Cup final, England have been restored.
Vice-captain Courtney Lawes has confirmed he will retire from Test rugby after the World Cup. The Northampton powerhouse, one of England’s most important, respected and likeable stars, will be missed for his leadership, big hitting, game understanding and plain speaking.
Dan Cole, Danny Care and Ben Youngs could all be in the category of considering their England chapter to be nearing a close. Jonny May has freely admitted he expects his England career to end after the tournament.
There will be plenty of players in this squad who will always jump at an England chance despite perhaps quietly anticipating the end of their international careers.
Harlequins scrum-half Care has said as much about himself. “There are some young guys who have many more years in an England shirt, but there are also some older guys who still have the potential for many more years in an England shirt too,” said Borthwick.
Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi, for example, are both 32. If fitness and form permits, Borthwick will clearly keep both as central to his plans.
There will be no grand building plan for 2027 in next year’s Six Nations, and England should be all the better in the long run, given Borthwick’s meticulous vision. All the talk will quickly follow of depth charts and predicted 2027 line-ups.
But even in the Six Nations, few observers would have banked on Ben Earl standing up as England’s player of the tournament. Under Jones, Earl may well have continued on England’s fringes.
In Borthwick’s new set-up, some home truths hit the target — Earl delivered on his boss’s challenge and has flourished in the finest style. Borthwick’s future England could be a team less obvious, but all the more dangerous.
