England star not surprised by boos in Rugby World Cup Bronze Final win over Argentina
England captain and fly-half Owen Farrell.
England’s Rugby World Cup campaign ended on a positive note when they clinched a hard-fought 26-23 victory over Argentina in the Bronze Final in Paris on Friday.
The Red Rose made an impressive start and raced into a 13-0 advantage inside the opening 15 minutes, and although Los Pumas fought back to take a 17-16 lead early in the second half, England finished stronger and managed to hold on for the win.
Happy with overall World Cup performance
The result means England head coach Steve Borthwick will be happy with his team’s overall performance at the global showpiece as their only loss at the tournament was their narrow 16-15 semi-final defeat to South Africa.
“I’m delighted for the players to get the win after they have worked so hard,” he said. “We won six games out of seven and lost one game by one point to the current world champions and current world number one, which shows the progress of the team. It shows how the team has built during the tournament.
“Playing finals games at World Cups is important. In the last two World Cups, this group of players have played six finals games and won four of them.
“Clearly, we want to be in the final and winning the gold medal. That wasn’t to be, but having finals experience has been important for this squad.
“The players should be very proud of their efforts and the challenges they have overcome. While things haven’t been perfect, they find a way to win games.
“Now, we didn’t last weekend – we lost by a point, which will hurt for a long time. But when the players have found themselves in tough circumstances, they have found a way to win.”
Most of the neutrals at the Stade de France were backing Argentina, and with Red Rose supporters making the trip to Paris in small numbers only, England played in a very hostile atmosphere.
Red Rose skipper Owen Farrell was booed throughout and most noisily when he was lining up goal-kicks but said he was not taken aback by the crowd’s actions.
“I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “It’s usually like that here. When you play against France in Six Nations here, they don’t cheer you when you’re having a shot at goal!”
“It’s a bit different here in France to how it is over in England when a kicker’s taking a shot. But that’s what it is – just different. That’s no problem.”
Meanwhile, Argentina boss Michael Cheika was not happy with the performance of Australian referee Nic Berry, especially in the scrums.
“The game could have ended differently, especially when you look at the final 15 minutes,” Cheika said.
“We did everything we could, and we deserved more, both in terms of result and refereeing.
Disappointed with refereeing at scrum time
“Three or four scrums we were dominating, and despite that, we got no reward for it. For me, that was very surprising.
“To be here on October 27 is very positive for the fans and for us. What is missing for us is excellence. It’s hard to accept losing this game and draw any positives from it.
“I believe that our trajectory over this World Cup will make Argentinians proud. We will come back stronger.”
