Arundell drives England revival

HENRY Arundell looked in need of a big infusion of confidence having been starved of game time, and on his first World Cup start in England colours the winger filled his boots to overflowing by scoring five of England’s 11 tries in Lille. 

- NICK CAIN

Arundell showed that his power, pace, and try-scoring instinct were intact, and he was alive to the opportunities that were created by experimental full-back Marcus Smith, and returning flyhalf and captain Owen Farrell, against the lowest ranked team in the World Cup.

Chile were always going to get a hiding when they came up against a nation in the top tier – which England can now just about claim to be. The question here for an England team which had hardly been inspirational in its two earlier pool wins over Japan and Argentina, is whether the shedload of tries they scored showed true attacking quality – and whether Smith could find his flair at full-back, and Farrell slot back in seamlessly at fly-half.

The reality is that against a defence as easily shredded as Chile’s it is hard to assess whether Smith and Farrell will be as successful in setting up chances for the likes of Arundell when the going gets tougher. However, it will have done Steve Borthwick’s team a world of good to not only inject some pace into their game, but also receive a big reward in terms of crossing the try-line.

The old adage is that you can only play what is in front of you, but the Chile side that was in front of them was the most callow, inexperienced side in the tournament. The reality was that however supercharged they were with emotional energy at the start of the match, captain Martin Sigren and his team were always marching up the slope as steep as those in the Andean mountain range that runs the length of their South American homeland.