Key events
8 mins. There’s a scrum-five for England with the Chilean line, scrum and lineout feeling the pressure. From a catch and drive, the ball is fed left to Smith again joining the line, this time in the 13 channel, but his pass to Malins is wild and into touch.
5 mins. The Chile scrum is already under pressure and they give away a penalty then another as they are off their feet on the attack England launch on the advantage. England are already more ambitious in spraying the ball about, but it’s imprecise in the opening minutes.
From a lineout, the ball is sprayed right to Smith, who slides a diagonal grubber, but Urroz is across to cover it.
2 mins. Marcus Smith receives a kick and starts an attack from deep, the ball making its way to Daly to have a dart. As the ball is recycled left towards Lawrence the Chilean tacklers are amongst it to spoil the possession, but not without knocking it on. England scrum.
KICK OFF!
Owen Farrell puts his foot through the ball and the game is underway.
The teams are out on the turf, both in their first choice kits with England in gleaming white and Chile resplendent in their red and blue.
The anthems are sung, with several Los Condores players giving it the full Ivan Zamorano..
Pre-match reading
Ugo Monye reckons it’s not as bad for England as everyone may think.
and our man Luke McLaughlin explores the unique bonds within the Chile squad
What does this match mean for England? Anything we can learn about the ongoing hopes of the squad? Any what of Chile, what is a good result for them? Please let me have your views on such things or anything else on the Email
Teams
Twelve changes for England today, with Owen Farrell returning from his four-week after school detention to take his 2023 World Cup bow, where he slots into both the outside-half berth and captaincy; the latter for the remainder of the tournament according to Steve Borthwick. Elsewhere in the backs, Marcus Smith starts at fullback for the first time, while Henry Arundell, Ollie Lawrence and Max Malins are back. The pack welcomes Bevan Rodd, Jack Willis and George Martin, among others.
Chile have not been shy with the red pen either, with eight changes from the side that was sunk by Samoa, including an RWC debut for fullback, Francisco Urroz.
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Henry Arundell, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Max Malins, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jack Willis, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 George Martin, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Joe Marchant
Chile: 15 Francisco Urroz, 14 Cristobal Game, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 12 Matias Garafulic, 11 Franco Velarde, 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 9 Benjamin Videla, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Ignacio Silva, 6 Martín Sigren (c), 5 Javier Eissmann, 4 Clemente Saavedra, 3 Matias Dittus, 2 Augusto Bohme, 1 Salvador Lues
Replacements: 16 Tomas Dussaillant, 17 Vittorio Lastra, 18 Inaki Gurruchaga, 19 Pablo Huete, 20 Thomas Orchard, 21 Raimundo Martínez, 22 Lukas Carvallo, 23 Inaki Ayarza
Preamble
Welcome to Lille on the third weekend of the Rugby World Cup 2023, where a much changed England face tournament debutants and dynamos of warm and fuzzy rugby feelings, Chile.
It’s not controversial to say that so far this has all gone better than expected for England; two wins and only one try conceded as they dispatched putative tricky opposition is not what the pre-tournament portent suggested would prevail. Having said that, the results are basically par for a squad with experience and, 2015 aside, an historical stubbornness that gets them out of the opening group one way or another. Today’s match is the beginning of the second phase of Pool D for Steve Borthwick’s team, which should be something of a procession given the relative level of the Chileans and the poor form of Samoa thus far.
Chile themselves recognise this game for what it is, with captain Martín Sigren speaking of the size of the challenge and how “few opportunities one has to face a team with as much history as England and on a Rugby World Cup stage.”
Los Condores will give it everything, and make many looking on smile in the process as they always do. And, is that not the real victory? The answer is no.
