Rugby World Cup 2019: The 180 seconds that decided England’s win over Australia

Jonny May scored twice in three minutes to transform the quarter-final

Harry Latham-Coyle
Saturday 19 October 2019 10:18 BST
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Rugby World Cup 2019 in numbers

One wonders what might have happened had Australia managed to convert their early advantage into points.

The Wallabies started superbly, playing with elan and purpose to begin in exactly as they would have hoped.

The teams that have managed to trouble this England side have started fast, put them on the back foot and asked them to adapt and play from behind – something Eddie Jones’ side haven’t shown great aptitude in doing.

Australia tried their best to do exactly that. They began with remarkable speed, bring carriers from deep with little deception but relying on their physical runners to get over the gainline, and supporting with two or three clearout men in close proximity to ensure quick ruck ball. For a while, it worked, with Samu Kerevi and a roaming Marika Koroibete prominent, with Jordan Petaia pushed out to cover the latter on the left and also showing promise with a couple of charges.

England struggled to reset between phases, leaving softer shoulders around the corner and allowing Will Genia to put his bigger forwards into small spaces.

But Australia’s early ambition got the better of them. They are not a naturally effervescent side, particularly in the pack, and don’t look hugely comfortable working offloads and tip-on passes in tighter confines.

And yet such was their desire to play with pace, intent and intensity and put themselves on the front foot that they tried to play in that manner. Australia’s tight five and back row can offload – it is a non-negotiable in rugby, now – but their spatial awareness and understanding of support and timing is not as good as, say, that of New Zealand, or Fiji, or even this England side.

The Australians’ exits were consistently poor, too. Attempts to play from deep were not necessarily ill-conceived, with England under-resourcing their forward line at times and leaving space down the flanks, but they were ill-executed. Short passes failed to find hands, offloads put others under pressure rather than open gaps, and the kicks, when they did eventually come, were often hurried and, thus, poor.

This all contributed to a swing in momentum. Australia, realistically, needed a first quarter lead of ten to fifteen points to assert their early ascendancy – they got three, and that came from Kurtley Beale’s brilliance in the open field.

England’s first try highlighted why Jones opted to drop George Ford and bring back Henry Slade.

Off first phase Manu Tuilagi was released on a crash ball, pinning in the inside Australia defence with a charge up the middle. Quick, efficient service from the base from Ben Youngs brought the rest of the England backs into the space Tuilagi’s charge created, with Henry Slade utilised as a first receiver.

Slade is a deceptively large man, and commands attention as a runner. But he is more a footballer, and superb at taking the ball to the line and timing his pass to bring others in. Here, he pulled back a pass for Owen Farrell, who swiftly got the ball on to Elliot Daly, who in turn slapped on to Anthony Watson. England were beyond the Australia defence, and into the 22.

From there the pressure told, with Australia unable to regather and reassemble defensively. Owen Farrell was whipped the ball with Australia actually numbered up well on the right, but a soft overlap was created by the identity of the defenders there – Reece Hodge, the last man in the line, had tight five forwards inside him in Izack Rodda and Allan Alaalatoa.

Slade justified his selection with a superb performance

Farrell hit Tom Curry in stride to get to the outside of the pair and leave Hodge isolated, and a simple draw and pass put May in.

There is a school of thought that having your second distributor at 13 is more dangerous. With Tuilagi setting lines and holding defenders, the ball can be worked wider more quickly, while Slade’s versatility throughout the midfield allows England to work different formations off set piece and in phase play.

Against Australia, this was particularly effective. Jones could not have predicted Jordan Petaia starting in that 13 channel, but it had been the weak point of the Wallabies’ defence regardless, with James O’Connor’s versatility perhaps hurting his natural nous for defending that corridor. Petaia has played little high-level rugby at outside centre, and while he has the potential to become one of the very best at the position, and innate understanding of how to defend in that region that bodes well for his future, he is inexperienced, and England found joy attacking him.

With the inside defence loaded up to combat Tuilagi’s threat, and thus Kerevi and Christian Lealiifano so focused on the inside centre, Petaia was left a little exposed, with Slade excellent throughout.

Jonny May celebrates with Lewis Ludlam and George Ford

England’s second try was a score of Australia’s making.

The other con of playing such an attacking game is how fatiguing it can be. Australia asked their side to work incredibly hard in attack, sending heavy resources into each ruck and requesting two or three ruck involvements from each player in quick succession. With fatigue comes poor decisions, and into the game came England.

Nowhere was this more evident than May’s second score. Maro Itoje disrupts a breakdown, stepping away to invite a player to dive off their feet, and then attacking the two tiring shields and forcing a slow pass from Will Genia.

David Pocock takes it but the support coming from the inside is slow, with Rory Arnold ambling and Alaalatoa struggling, too. With Slade, Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi closing in, Pocock has to force a short offload to Christian Lealliifano in an attempt to keep the movement going.

Lealiifano is not anticipating the pass, instead focused on the task of clearing the contact area when Pocock is chopped down, something he, as the team’s fly-half and primary distributor, should not really have to. Pocock’s offload flashes past Lealiifano’s hands, and Slade gathers with green grass in which to run.

A magnificent prod through from Slade, off his wrong foot, and May raced away for his second score, diving over exactly three minutes after scoring his first.

The game had been turned in 180 seconds.

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