The England defence coach, Kevin Sinfield, has issued an impassioned rallying cry before his side’s World Cup semi-final against South Africa on Saturday, warning his players to avoid ending up with “a load of regrets for the rest of your life”.
Steve Borthwick’s side head into the last-four clash in Paris as the only unbeaten side left in the tournament but South Africa are heavy favourites to inflict more World Cup misery on England, four years after their 32-12 victory in the final.
At the end of a disappointing warm-up campaign that included defeats by Wales, Ireland and Fiji, England were considered rank outsiders to repeat their 2003 victory in the tournament. However, after beginning their campaign with a defiant victory over Argentina, Borthwick’s side have gone on to defeat Japan, Chile, Samoa and Fiji to stand two wins away from being crowned champions.
Borthwick’s starting lineup includes eight players who started the 2019 final while there are 13 in the 23 who appeared in the match and for a sizeable chunk of England’s squad, this tournament represents their last shot at World Cup glory.
“Rewind eight weeks and it was pretty grim for us, at the end of August,” said Sinfield. “But we want them to absolutely rip into it on Saturday night and give it everything you’ve got, otherwise you end up with a load of regrets for the rest of your life.
“I am certainly not overwhelmed. I understand the challenge in front of us. But I don’t mind being backed into a corner, don’t mind being written off, don’t mind being slammed, don’t mind being in the thick of a pretty tough circumstance. I just think we’re in a World Cup semi-final, there is a lot of good in it here, there’s a lot of things to be excited about. Coming up against them will let us know where we’re at. But for our players, they are so excited to be out there. We are talking about different personalities and characters in the group; some will absolutely thrive on the fact that we are coming up against the best team in the world.”
• Only England can still boast a 100% record at this World Cup; they were the sole unbeaten team to reach the semi-finals. South Africa lost to Ireland, New Zealand were beaten by France and Argentina were taken down by England.
• But the venue bodes ill for England. In the teams’ three World Cup meetings at Stade de France South Africa won 44-21 in the 1999 quarter-final, 36-0 in the 2007 pool stage and 15-6 in the 2007 final.
• England are facing the same country in two different World Cups on one day (see page 16). The last time this happened, on 5 November 2022, England secured two wins, beating Canada 26-19 in the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Auckland and 54-4 in the Women’s Rugby League World Cup in Wigan.
• South Africa have faced England three times in World Cup knockout matches and won the lot, dispatching them from the 1999, 2007 and 2019 tournaments.
• England have a great semi-final record, winning five of their six and losing only to the Jonah Lomu-inspired All Blacks in 1995.
• Since appearing in their first World Cup, in 1995, South Africa have reached the final every 12 years and never in-between, lifting the trophy in 1995, 2007 and 2019. On that basis they are not due to win a semi-final until the USA hosts the 2031 tournament.
• Could the appointment of New Zealand’s Ben O’Keeffe as referee boost England? The only time England have beaten South Africa in five World Cup encounters – 25-6 in a pool match at Perth in 2003 – the referee was from the southern hemisphere (Australia’s Peter Marshall). The referees for the four defeats were from Scotland, Ireland and France (twice).
• A southern hemisphere referee, the match staged in a city of five letters beginning with P, the year ending in 3 … things are looking up for Steve Borthwick’s side.
With rain forecast in Paris on Saturday, England have been training with wet balls in an effort to prepare them for unfavourable conditions against the Springboks. After their scrappy pool stage win over Japan was littered with handling errors, England players pointed to the humid conditions that made keeping hold of the ball so difficult.
In preparation for their World Cup semi-final, however, the attack coach, Richard Wigglesworth, explained how England were bracing themselves for wet weather.
“It definitely comes into our planning,” he said. “The lads have had some wet balls, as would normally be the case in these sorts of weeks, and talking about what it means for them in their units and as individuals. It is pretty standard for teams when the weather is going to be what it is meant to be like at the weekend.
“There will be a logistics guy on the sidelines with a bucket of water with balls ready to go into whenever we are swapping or starting a set. That ball will be wet so we are focusing in on what it might be like to handle a wet ball rather than a dry one.”
