And France ran into South Africa. The host team was dressed as a favorite to compete for its World Cup and the cruel draw placed them in the quarterfinals against the current champions. He was about to knock them down in another match to remember. To a couple of points, specifically.
The Springboks form a rough, herculean and resentful team. Their eight starting forwards this Sunday were over 30 years old, none of them are under 60 caps. Reinforced concrete. France responded to the challenge from the lineup. The Dupont factor. The French marshal reappeared as a starter 24 days after his broken cheekbone.
The European fifteen entered this uncertain tie as one of the teams that scores the most in the first part of the matches. He touched the try in the second minute and conquered it in the third. How it hurts South Africans the most. At the exit of a touche he set up a maul that advanced almost 20 meters and, already next to the line, he sought superiority in a corner for Baille's try (7-0, min 5). A minute later, with France in disarray, South Africa was only able to stop the leak when the locals were almost celebrating the try.
Such close confrontations change in a second, due to a detail. South Africa, until then outmatched, got oil from a hanging kick in midfield. Her wing Arendse caught her and ran to pose (7-7, min 10). What had seemed like fortune was actually a recipe. He repeated it. Vertical kick with a near fall, split landing, ball for the Springboks and Damian de Allende's run that ended in his own try (7-12, min 18). Enraged, France took the initiative again. In your case, at hand. Colliding and looking for gaps, alternating the horizontal and vertical lines, accelerating in the 22nd so that the heeler Meuwaka, splendid in the first half, got the tie (12-12).
Very hard percussion from the forwards gave way to a festival of sprinters. The match, of exceptional intensity, turned into an offensive exhibition. And the South African Kolbe, who could not be absent, was present. First, he arrived in time to block the conversion of a try, a gesture who knows whether it was decisive given the final result. Then he escaped in a sprint for the third try (12-19, min. 26). The local fifteen, led by Dupont, entered with unstoppable ferocity, once again, into the opposing 22 and Baille posed (19-19, min 32). Six rehearsals in just over half an hour. If France seemed unstoppable advancing in a group, South Africa delivered lethal pecks with its wings.. Ramos' sure footing put the French team ahead just before the break (22-19).
The Springboks usually try to take possession of the ball, then the pace and finally the result. Although they responded to the exchange of blows, they were not comfortable facing a forward, the French one, as strong as theirs and faster in cleaning the ground.. The South Africans arrived with five more days of rest, with fewer minutes in their legs and yet they did not convey a good feeling in such a frenetic clash.. They faced the second half with an added handicap: the exclusion of their striker Etzebeth for ten minutes..
In front, France was so engaged that they already dominated possession, pushed in the scrum and, something unusual, stole balls on the ground from the Springboks. The South African coaches started with the changes in the 45th minute. They not only looked for muscle but above all for seniority. De Klerk, Pollard and Le Roux, champions in Japan 2019, jumped onto the grass to take the helm. The fifteenth of the southern hemisphere had resisted the siege, they had not conceded any points during their numerical inferiority. But he suffered, with little ball and increasingly locked in his territory. Kicker Ramos extended the French advantage (25-19, minute 53).
With more concrete and many three-pointers, South Africa took control of the game as the 60th minute approached. They would not let go. His scrum finally started with a punishing blow. He went to the touche to look for the try, but the French defense recovered the oval. It was the first warning. In the next scrum, another punishing blow and a gallop from coast to coast until they stood meters from the French try line. He got another hit, charged to the hand, Etzebeth took the defenders and turned the score around (25-26, min. 67). The brutalist bet finally bore fruit. Pollard – he came to the World Cup for this – then hit a shot from his own half (25-29). Ramos, within a minute, responded (28-29, min. 72).
When the score is on the edge, the ball is gold. But it also burns. A poor serve by Ramos gave the South Africans a scrum against the French posts. The first lines clashed, 16 giants pushed, bones ached even on television. When the oval came out, every meter a battle, it ended in a scrum for France. The locals linked up a race, they planted themselves in the rival field, they wove phases and phases like Ireland did on Saturday, the last ones almost without advancing, until the melon slipped away. Their brave game ended in defeat, their victory would not have been unfair .
France had scored three tries in the first half and none managed to score in the second. 60 minutes of dominance and brilliance are not enough to topple this rocky South Africa.
England subscribes to suffering
Hours before, punctually as usual, England had qualified for the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Without dazzling but with efficiency. The British fifteen limped into the championship and have carried out all their committed matches. Fiji has been one of the pleasant highlights of France 2023. They entered the quarterfinals as second in an even group but gave up two defeats. They beat the English precisely in the last preparation match before the championship and that has reduced their margin of surprise this Sunday.
England's Marchant rehearses surrounded by Fiji players AP
The oceanic ones, a fifteen with a rotund physique with game skills at hand, also stand out in fishing.. As soon as an opponent falls to the ground with the ball, they come like predators to steal it. They did it three times in the first quarter of an hour. England played less on foot than in previous games but started, of course, very effectively. From his first innings in the Fijian 22 he extracted 15 points, thanks to two tries by Tuilagi and Marchant and a penalty hit.
In midfield contacts, on the other hand, the clash leaned towards the Fijian side. Although they only scored one of the first three shots on goal, the red and black team was able, outnumbered, to give England Mata's try after an imaginative -pass under the legs- handling of the oval (15-10, minute 29).
Faced with an opponent who was growing, who pushed them back in the tackles, the English resorted to another of their basic principles: adding three by three with stick shots to maintain a comfortable safety distance (21-10 at half-time). In the first 40 minutes, England had committed five penalty shots and Fiji, six and a 10-minute suspension. But the first, always craftsmanship and precision, had gotten much more benefit both in meters and in points.
Fiji also has players who devour the territory with the ball in their hands.. First they collide and then they pass their partner. Until that moment they had neither been able to do so nor had they punished Marcus Smith, a fly half lined up as a defender, with hanging balls.. He never shied away from contact and ended up bruised.
The return to the game was defined by the alternation of missed chances in both hot areas of the field. The English forward felt more and more comfortable challenging, fighting and stealing the oval on the ground. Without deviating from the manual, Farrell extended the advantage with his foot (24-10, min. 53).
It seemed that the match was going to end in the last quarter when Fiji finally managed to move the ball across the field to create the break and Ravai's try (24-17, min. 63). The Oceanians then launched a frontal offensive, apparently disorganized but very faithful to their style.. A break of dozens of meters gave them Botitu's mark for the tie (24-24, min 69). Two tries in a row in a flash when the XV de la Rosa had only conceded three before this clash.
An eleven-minute eliminator began. England stepped on the opponent's 22 again and, after a dozen phases, returned to their very profitable rule of three: drop by Owen Farrell (27-24, min. 71). And a 40-meter run by the third line Earls, outstanding in this world championship, concluded with another shot with sticks (30-24, min. 77).
Fiji pressed but England, now clinging to their defense, pushed them back dozens of meters. A punishing blow with time elapsed gave the oceanic team the last chance. They crashed again. They have become a very dangerous team, but not enough to dispatch this Sunday, in a life or death clash, to England, increasingly comfortable amid so much suffering. The agony of facing South Africa now awaits the British.