Flyhalf George Ford led the way as England ended New Zealand’s eight-year reign as world champions with a superb 19-7 World Cup semi-final win in Yokohama yesterday.
Ford, restored at No. 10 by coach Eddie Jones, took over goal-kicking duties after England captain Owen Farrell took a knock, landing four penalty attempts after Manu Tuilagi stunned the All Blacks with an early try.
This was just England’s eighth win in 42 Tests against New Zealand and meant the All Blacks had lost their first World Cup match since a shock 2007 quarter-final defeat by France.
Photo: Reuters
England’s first World Cup win over the two-time defending champions puts them into their fourth final — just four years after their embarrassing first-round exit on home soil.
“Our best form of attack is our defense. We create opportunities through our defense to attack,” Jones said. “I’d like to pay the greatest compliment to New Zealand. They’ve won two World Cups in a row. They’ve been a really great team and we had to dig really deep to beat them.”
England, world champions in 2003 when they beat an Australia side coached by Jones in the final, face the winners of today’s match between South Africa and Wales.
Photo: AFP
Their victory sullied the tenure of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, who is stepping down after the tournament after overseeing a sensational run in which they lost only 10 of 106 Tests.
“I’m really proud of our team. They’ve done a tremendous job for their country and tonight we just weren’t good enough,” Hansen said. “So we have to take that on the chin and so does everybody back home and our fans.”
England led 10-0 at the break thanks to Tuilagi’s converted try and the first of Ford’s penalties after a superb forward effort led by locks Courtney Lawes and Maro Itoje saw them dominate territory and possession.
Photo: Reuters
Another Ford penalty early in the second half made it 13-0, but the All Blacks broke through in the 57th minute, when Ardie Savea crashed over for a converted try.
Sam Underhill’s tackle on the recalled Scott Barrett led to a simple penalty in front of the posts that Ford duly kicked.
England made several early visits to New Zealand’s 22 only for their own errors to cost them the chance of further points.
Underhill went over in the 25th minute, but referee Nigel Owens ruled out the score for crossing by fellow flanker Tom Curry.
Ford made no mistake with a 45m penalty after a limping Farrell was unable to take the shot.
England thought they had their second try when, following a drive off an attacking line-out, scrumhalf Ben Youngs went over after selling center Anton Lienert-Brown a dummy, but Owens ruled it out for a knock-on in the maul.
Another Ford penalty extended the lead, but George’s overthrown line-out near England’s line was collected by Savea, with flyhalf Richie Mo’unga converting. That was as close as New Zealand got as two more Ford penalties created an unbridgeable gap for the defending champions.
Itoje said that England might have beaten the best team in the world for more than a decade to get to the final, but they are still building as they look to finish the job on Saturday.
He was named man of the match after a leading role in England’s magnificent defensive effort.
“Fair play to the All Blacks, they were the best team in the world for a reason. We really had to play for 80 minutes. It was a good day at the office for us,” Itoje said. “I think we’re just building, game by game, week by week, we’re just building. We haven’t done the job yet, but we’re one step closer.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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