ENGLAND V FIJI Marseille, Sunday, 4pm, ITV
STEVE BORTHWICK’S entire England tenure will be judged on one match: Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final holds knife-edge status for the head coach.
Borthwick will not like the concept one bit, but the cold, hard fact is that this clash will define his embryonic reign. Win, and England will have a chieved their pre -tournament expectation. Lose, and the inquest will be unremitting.
England have enjoyed arguably the easiest World Cup draw in the tournament’s history.
The lowly world rankings of England’s Pool D opponents only serve to underscore that assertion: Chile are ranked 22nd; Samoa 15th; Japan 12th; and Argentina eighth. And now England will face world No9 side Fiji at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday.
The world’s top four teams are all on the other side of the draw.
England have avoided Ireland, South Africa, France and New Zealand, flying entirely under the radar in a relatively stress-free competition.
Finally, England will have to show exactly what they are made of. That it has taken until the sixth week of a two-month tournament for them to be put under such pressure is ludicrous.
England are in no way to blame for the scheduling and the draw, but so far they have had this competition as easy it could come.
This story is from the October 13, 2023 edition of Evening Standard.
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This story is from the October 13, 2023 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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