England triumph over Chile in Lille

23 Sep 2023 | 6 min |

England triumph over Chile in Lille

Henry Arundell scored five tries as England beat Chile 71-0 in Lille.

England crossed 11 times in total at Stade Pierre-Mauroy to top Pool D at the Rugby World Cup.

Tries from Henry Arundell (5), Theo Dan (2), Bevan Rodd, Marcus Smith (2) and Jack Willis, as well as 16 points from the boot of Farrell secured the victory, as England held Los Cóndores scoreless.

Chile started brightly and took England by surprise with their neat offloading and probing attacks courtesy of wing Cristobal Game. Their defence frustrated Steve Borthwick's men, but England's persistence was rewarded after 20 minutes as Billy Vunipola picked from the base of a five-metre scrum and fed Farrell, who in turn zipped a pass into the path of Arundell for the winger to jog in at the corner.

The second came four minutes later, Dan claiming his first Test try after taking possession of the ball at the back of a 20-metre rolling maul - from his own throw - and powering over the whitewash. Saracen team mate Farrell added the extras to make it 12-0.

Arundell's second was a carbon copy of his first finish just moments later, and Rodd secured the bonus-point on the 35 minute mark, as he bounced prop Salvador Lues and wrestled past scrum half Benjamin Videla to surge over. Farrell extended the lead to 24 points.

A moment of magic saw Smith claim England's fifth, as he collected the ball on the halfway line and stabbed a grubber behind the Chilean defence, winning the race to the ball, collecting and cantering into the corner. Farrell was on hand to convert the effort for a 31-0 lead at the break. The half time stats showed England's dominance: 70% possession, 276 more metres and 49 more carries the stand out numbers.

Chile prop Matias Dittus was shown a yellow card four minutes into the resumption, and England took immediate advantage of the extra man from the resulting lineout, Dan the benefactor at the back of another powerful rolling maul.

Arundell's hat-trick came a few minutes later, as he collected the well-weighted kick of Daly after a fumble from Franco Velarde. On the hour mark he collected his own chip-and-chase to register a fourth try, and Smith pierced through the Chilean defence with 10 minutes left in the Test to assist Arundell with a record equalling fifth score in a Rugby World Cup match - joining Josh Lewsey who achieved the feat against Uruguay in 2003.

Smith bagged his second in the 77th minute, crashing over from close range, and Willis struck in the final play of the match to round off an 11-try display. Farrell's fifth conversion of the half confirmed a 71-0 win.

Reaction

Henry Arundell: "I cannot believe it to be honest, it's a bit surreal, the game finished and I thought 'how the hell did that just happen?' but that shows real team performance - we have real depth in this team and there is aspiration to attack - we want to score tries."

Owen Farrell: "It is always enjoyable to pull on an England shirt but to win in the fashion we did today playing some good stuff was good fun. I thought we settled into it after that first half, we went a good few minutes without anything but I thought our attitude was great throughout.

"We want to keep progressing on everything, we want to be a better team. There was a lot of changes today and I think this team took a step forward today as it has done the past few weeks. It has put us in god stead, we will enjoy this but we go into a break now and we'll come back raring to get better."

Marcus Smith: "It was nice to score loads of tries today as a team. The boys made a brilliant start the first two games, it was our responsibility to take it on a step further this week and I thought we did that. There is a few things we need to work on ahead of Samoa, but we will enjoy the win and get back on the horse next week."

Teams

England

15. Marcus Smith, 14. Henry Arundell, 13. Elliot Daly, 12. Ollie Lawrence, 11. Max Malins, 10. Owen Farrell (C), 9. Danny Care, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Theo Dan, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. David Ribbans, 5. George Martin, 6. Lewis Ludlam, 7. Jack Willis, 8. Billy Vunipola.

Replacements

16. Jack Walker, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Will Stuart, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Ben Earl, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. George Ford, 23. Joe Marchant.

Chile

15. Francisco Urroz, 14. Cristobal Game, 13. Domingo Saavedra, 12. Matias Garafulic, 11. Franco Velarde, 10. Rodrigo Fernandez, 9. Benjamin Videla, 1. Salvador Lues, 2. Augusto Bohme, 3. Matias Dittus, 4. Clemente Saavedra, 5. Javier Eissmann, 6. Martín Sigren (C), 7. Ignacio Silva, 8. Alfonso Escobar.

Replacements

16. Tomas Dussaillant, 17. Vittorio Lastra, 18. Inaki Gurruchaga, 19. Pablo Huete, 20. Thomas Orchard, 21. Raimundo Martínez, 22. Lukas Carvallo, 23. Inaki Ayarza.