England end a disappointing World Cup on a high

And that was that, hosts England’s World Cup ended with a bang, not a whimper. Unfortunately for England the romping, occasionally stop-start, but overall dominating performance they used to put Uruguay to the sword on Saturday night was one they needed to find a fortnight earlier against Wales at Twickenham, which the failure to do so, made Manchester’s first rugby World Cup game a dead rubber affair.  

However the meaningless nature of England’s final World Cup fixture did not fail to dampen the spirits of the 50,000 plus crowd packed into the Etihad Stadium, or indeed that of the England side who finished a disastrous World Cup on a high note, running in 10 tries to defeat Uruguay in resounding fashion, 60-3.

Harlequins’ No.8 Nick Easter and Exeter winger Jack Nowell both bagged themselves hat-tricks with Anthony Watson (2x), Henry Slade and a penalty try propelling England to the largest winning margin in this year’s competition despite Uruguay’s perpetually firm resistance.

Felipe Berchesi opened the scoring with a penalty in the very first minute after England were caught offside directly after the opening kickoff.

Unsurprisingly, Uruguay’s lead was not to last the full eighty with the match resorting to expected proceedings – an England lead – on seven minutes, albeit unfairly. Anthony Watson - who was clearly ahead of Jack Nowell’s kick - superbly collected his fellow winger’s chip in-field to just about squeeze a touchdown before the ball moved past the dead ball line. An Owen Farrell conversion later and England now held a lead they never relinquished.

Nick Easter scored the first of his three tries on the night off the back of a 17^th minute rolling maul before powering over from close-range for a second time only five minutes later. To Los Teros’ credit however, despite never threatening England’s tryline for much of the first forty minutes, the Uruguayans superbly slowed down England’s breakdown time and time again to frustrate the hosts, who never seemed able to slip out of first gear in a surprisingly difficult and cohesion-lacking first half.

The tables turned following the half-time break however to ensure England fans nationwide were to at least finish a fairly dismal World Cup with a glimmer of the light at the end of the 2019 tunnel as England ran in seven second-half tries to firmly reaffirm their credentials as one of the leading sides in the rugby-playing world.

Anthony Watson – one of the few stars of England’s 2015 tournament - scored the second of his duo of tries immediately after the second-half kick off following simple hands and passing once Nick Easter had recovered George Ford’s restart. 

Henry Slade rounded off a superb World Cup debut with a fantastic solo try that saw the Exeter playmaker charge down a kick, punt the loose ball forward twice, speed away from the recovering defender and collect the ball to touch down on 53 minutes. Three minutes later Jack Nowell stretched the lead past 35 points – once again off the back of some simple handling and passing down the line – before three more minutes saw Nick Easter further stretch the lead once again, completing his hat-trick with his second back-of-a-rolling-maul try on 59 minutes.

Nowell bagged his second in the corner following an incisive miss pass by George Ford, before fulfilling the second English hat-trick of the night four minutes later after a break by the ever-dangerous Jonathan Joseph before England brought up the 60 point mark having been awarded a penalty try in the final play of the game for a deliberate knock-on preventing a certain try.

Such impressive performances by a number of young players making their tournament debuts – Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Jamie George all come to mind – will only add to the questions surrounding England following a disastrous World Cup showing. However for one night at least, England can rest easy knowing they did all they could and plenty more to gracefully bow out of their own competition.