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England’s 5 previous Rugby World Cup quarter-final apperances
By PA
England made unbeaten progress through the Rugby World Cup group stage to secure a quarter-final against Fiji at Stade Velodrome on Sunday.
It will be their ninth appearance in the knockout phase having missed out on qualification just once before and here the PA news agency examines their last five outings at this stage of the tournament.
2019: Oita, Japan – England 40 Australia 16
What should have been a major hurdle was anything but as a clueless Wallabies side lacking any discernible game plan were outscored four tries to one, with England prop Kyle Sinckler touching down in memorable fashion.
2011: Auckland, New Zealand – England 12 France 19
Martin Johnson’s England paid the price for allowing France to romp 16 points ahead and, while they fought back, it was not enough to put a World Cup beset by off-field controversy out of its misery.
2007: Marseille, France – England 12 Australia 10
Jonny Wilkinson kicked four penalties but this victory was founded on the dominance of an England scrum that ground the Wallabies into submission, placing a dismal group campaign into the rear-view mirror.
2003: Brisbane, Australia – England 28 Wales 17
England were outscored three tries to one and had to rely on Wilkinson’s boot after a daredevil Wales side had moved 10-3 ahead, threatening an upset until Sir Clive Woodward’s men staggered over the finishing line.
1999: Paris, France – England 21 South Africa 44
A freakish performance from Jannie de Beer sent England crashing to defeat after South Africa’s second-choice fly-half behind the injured Henry Honiball landed a record five drop goals in the space of 31 minutes.
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Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
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