{"id":92024,"date":"2023-08-26T01:34:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T01:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=92024"},"modified":"2023-08-26T01:34:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T01:34:45","slug":"chris-foy-steve-borthwicks-side-must-restore-order-against-fiji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/rugby\/chris-foy-steve-borthwicks-side-must-restore-order-against-fiji\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRIS FOY: Steve Borthwick&apos;s side must restore order against Fiji"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>CHRIS FOY: Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side have to restore order on Saturday against Fiji &#8211; England MUST\u00a0halt their free-falling approach to the Rugby World Cup amid the August pain and disruption which has been beyond a beggars belief<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>England will play Fiji at Twickenham on Sunday ahead of the Rugby World Cup<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It comes as Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side have struggled so far during their warm-ups\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>England will be without Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola who are serving bans<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This was supposed to be the send-off party &#8211; the home-banker fixture where England could deliver a thunderous victory with a flourish, before storming across the Channel with momentum and hope.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s quite not panned out like that, though. The outlook has darkened. Expectations have lowered. The target for Saturday has fundamentally shifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side have to restore order. They have to win and halt their free-falling approach to the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>August has become a month of English pain and disruption, on a scale which almost beggars belief.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There have been injuries &#8211; so many of them, leaving the management hurriedly patching up a disintegrating squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74729785-0-image-a-21_1692980283211.jpg\" height=\"424\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Steve Borthwick&#8217;s England side will play Fiji on Saturday in their last World Cup warm-up game\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74730167-0-image-a-20_1692980275260.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England come into the game off the back of a defeat to Ireland and have struggled recently\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74729939-0-image-a-22_1692980288281.jpg\" height=\"449\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>They will need to beat\u00a0Simon Raiwalui&#8217;s side, who will look to play running rugby on Saturday<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not all though. Red cards and bans for their captain and only specialist No 8 have added to the turmoil, along with two defeats from three games and an avalanche of unrest from supporters who now fear the worst and have lamented stodgy Red Rose tactics.<\/p>\n<p>This is the last remaining chance to create a mood up-lift, but the omens aren&#8217;t good.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Twickenham is destined to be half-full for this warm-up encounter with Fiji, less than 24 hours after New Zealand and South Africa locked horns in front of a capacity crowd at the national stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That jarring contrast between the box-office appeal of the visiting southern superpowers and the host nation should serve as an alarm call to the RFU hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p>They can&#8217;t just assume England&#8217;s mass appeal is assured. They can&#8217;t just expect that the national team will attract full houses every time, or persuade people to part with vast sums and tolerate transport hassle to witness a turgid spectacle. It has to be worth the effort and out-lay.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, this fixture should have been moved to another area of the country, where it would have been more appreciated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>People in the West Country, the south coast, the Midlands or the North would have attended in droves, if it had been brought to their door, rather than just having it in the same old place that England always play.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Maybe a change of scene and atmosphere might have even galvanised the home players.<\/p>\n<p>However, it&#8217;s at Twickenham and there&#8217;s plenty riding on it. A few weeks ago, this would have been seen as the occasion when Borthwick&#8217;s side could fine-tune their World Cup preparations, flex their muscles and deliver a statement win.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead, it feels like damage limitation and an exercise in dodging a banana skin.<\/p>\n<p>England have played just seven Tests against Fiji over the years and won the lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The last time the countries met, at the same towering arena, England delivered a suitably towering performance &#8211; scoring nine tries as they dismantled the Pacific Islanders 58-15 in November, 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That was in the heady phase when Eddie Jones over-saw a world-record run of victories. How long ago that seems.<\/p>\n<p>Look at it now. Under Borthwick, England have played eight, won three and lost the other five.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They have scored just 15 tries and conceded 27. In almost every conceivable performance metric, they are being eclipsed by all their leading rivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While France, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and even Scotland limber up for the global showpiece with a blend of power and dazzling creativity, the English bandwagon is broken down and stuck on bricks, with its windscreen smashed in.<\/p>\n<p>There is danger today; real danger. A Fijian victory is unthinkable for Borthwick and his faltering regime, but that is no longer being regarded as a far-fetched scenario. England lie sixth in the world rankings and are on the slide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their opponents are ninth and rising. Last week, they went toe-to-toe with France in Nantes until subsiding in the final quarter to lose 34-17.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s face it, England are nowhere near the French level, so Fiji will sense the chance for an historic upset.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Former Bristol centre Semi Radradra will be lurking in their midfield, primed to wreak havoc at Twickenham, just as he did when the Barbarians put England to the sword there in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s just as well for Borthwick that his counterpart, Simon Raiwalui, has rotated his squad and left out the likes of La Rochelle icon Levani Botia and Josua &#8216;The Bus&#8217; Tuisova.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74730005-0-image-a-23_1692980293544.jpg\" height=\"459\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Red rose skipper Owen Farrell will be absent for the game after he received a four-match ban\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74730021-0-image-a-24_1692980296666.jpg\" height=\"447\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England take on Argentina in the first game of their World Cup campaign on September 9<\/p>\n<p>But Fiji will still pose threats all over with their exuberant, instinctive attacking play and the off-loading class of No 8 Viliame Mata and so many others. The spectators in attendance will witness what rugby looks like with some freedom of expression, at least from one side.<\/p>\n<p>No doubt, England will seek to double-down on their pragmatic approach, at least until they ponder unleashing Marcus Smith from full-back in the second half. Don&#8217;t expect too much razzle-dazzle from the beleaguered hosts, who will be focused on the bottom-line objective of winning, however ugly.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, amid all the gloom, the line-up named by Borthwick for this game contains some good news.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ollie Chessum&#8217;s first start since recovering from a broken ankle is a heartening, positive development for the Leicester lock and the national team.<\/p>\n<h3>Three England players who can enhance their World Cup selections prospects today&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p><span>Ben Earl<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Saracens back-rower has been deployed as the starting openside flanker in England&#8217;s last two matches. Now, he has been called upon to deputise at No 8 for the banned Billy Vunipola and if he delivers a dynamic, assertive performance, he will line up there in the tournament opener.<\/p>\n<p><span>Jonny May<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What a dramatic, unexpected opportunity this is for the Gloucester veteran, who has gone from missing the final cut to having an audition for a role in France. He has been preferred to various younger rivals and must provide a timely reminder of his Test match-winning pedigree.<\/p>\n<p><span>Alex Mitchell<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When he was involved in the Six Nations, the Northampton scrum-half added energy, tempo and vision to England&#8217;s attack. He was overlooked initially for the World Cup squad but injury to Jack van Poortvliet has created a vacancy and the position is wide open for a bolter&#8217;s late surge.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74728575-0-image-a-19_1692979456135.jpg\" height=\"403\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Courtney Lawes will earn his 100th cap on Saturday, a richly-deserved achievement<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/25\/17\/74730219-0-image-a-25_1692980304401.jpg\" height=\"436\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Alex Mitchell is one of many who can stake a claim for a chance to feature in the World Cup<\/p>\n<p>Jack Willis can alleviate England&#8217;s breakdown trouble and Alex Mitchell is capable of bringing renewed spark and urgency to the go-slow attack. In midfield, it will be fascinating to see if Manu Tuilagi and Ollie Lawrence can form a forceful, gainline-busting alliance.<\/p>\n<p>Then there is the captain. Courtney Lawes will be feted today for reaching his Test century, as a richly-deserved tribute to one of England&#8217;s finest forwards of the modern era.<\/p>\n<p>The great Saint is a player who has evolved from a defensive weapon of mass destruction into a canny and popular leader with an all-round repertoire.<\/p>\n<p>It would be a desperate shame if Lawes&#8217; red-letter day was tarnished by a shock defeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s another good, collective motivation for England to stop the rot and &#8211; in defiance of all the recent chaos &#8211; summon up a bounce-back performance, to send them to France with a shred of hope. If they can&#8217;t manage it, heaven help them in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12446157\/CHRIS-FOY-Steve-Borthwicks-restore-order-Saturday-against-Fiji-England-halt-free-falling-approach-Rugby-World-Cup-amid-August-pain-disruption-beggars-belief.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHRIS FOY: Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side have to restore order on Saturday against Fiji &#8211; England MUST\u00a0halt their free-falling approach to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CHRIS FOY: Steve Borthwick&amp;apos;s side must restore order against Fiji - stopsmokingway<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/rugby\/chris-foy-steve-borthwicks-side-must-restore-order-against-fiji\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CHRIS FOY: Steve Borthwick&amp;apos;s side must restore order against Fiji - stopsmokingway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHRIS FOY: Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side have to restore order on Saturday against Fiji &#8211; 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