The Red Roses have enjoyed a positive start to their World Cup campaign beating Argentina despite playing almost the entire fixture a man down. They then went on to beat Japan 34-12 and claimed a crucial try-scoring bonus point in the fixture.
England v Chile
Saturday 23 September
Stade Pierre-Mauroy
England 1/200 | Draw 66/1 | Chile 10/1
The English sit pretty in Pool D and a big win here would all but seal their qualification to the next round.
It’s pretty strange how good a start the English have got their World Cup campaign off to. I mean this was a side in turmoil who had just lost at home to Fiji. But now, they sit in the pound seat in Pool D with 9 points from clashes with Japan and Argentina; two sides, along with Samoa, who were considered to give the English a run for top spot in the ‘Pool of Death’.
Even stranger is the fact that England actually scored a couple of tries last week, crossing the whitewash on four occasions. Look, it wasn’t the French attacking verve of the early 90s but England did score four late tries.
The game was actually pretty tight up until the 55-minute mark with the scores at 13-12 when Joe Marler went full on Harry Kane and put in a cracking ‘header’ that saw Courtney Lawes canter in for a try as the Japanese players looked on while waiting to hear the whistle, that would never come, for a knock-on. England then went on the attack with Freddie Stewart latching on to a cross kick for a five-pointer and Joe Marchant crashing over from close range as the clock went into injury time. Five points for England and job done.
While England have bagged two wins from two starts, Chile have struggled in their opening two games going down 42-12 to Japan and then 43-10 to Samoa. They have managed to score points in their games which is an encouraging sign for the South Americans.
I’m hoping we see England cut loose here with Marcus Smith given free range to get what will be a weakened backline going on the attack. If that does transpire, then we may see England put up a big score here.
Verdict: England (-49.5) 8/11
