Steve Borthwick’s side made a litany of errors in their unconvincing World Cup victory over a spirited Samoa sidend just when you thought it was safe to come out from behind the sofa. Steve Borthwick’s England had the misfortune to finally run into a team in some sort of form in Lille on Saturday, and the hard-won gains they had made over the course of the tournament seemed to slip right back away from them again.before the tournament. Samoa almost made it a double.
The lowest of the many low moments came in the 65th minute, when England were trailing by six. Owen Farrell, their captain, settled himself over a penalty shot at goal, 15m away on the angle.
His teammates presented him with a framed photo afterwards, but, judging by the look on his face when he mentioned it, it will be a bittersweet memory, soured by the way he and the team played in this game. “I didn’t see the clock, and I got lost a little bit in the kick,” Farrell said afterwards. “That’s not good enough. I’m glad for the team’s sake it didn’t cost us.”
Samoa worked the ball across the far side of the pitch, where England won a turnover. Alex Mitchell hoisted a miserable box kick that drifted back down to ground like a firework that had failed to ignite. The ball was bundled forward, and Duncan Paia’aua ran it down before anyone else reacted and scored in the corner. Or he would have done, if the referee hadn’t called him back for a knock-on in the run-up.
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