By Philip Blenkinsop
LILLE, France (Reuters) -Winger Henry Arundell scored five tries on his World Cup debut as England tore up the safety-first playbook from their first two matches with a crushing 71-0 defeat of Chile on Saturday to give coach Steve Borthwick a selection quandary.
England, who made 12 changes from the starting line-up against Japan, scored 11 tries, including five for 20-year-old winger Arundell, equalling an England record, albeit against the lowest ranked team in the tournament who are playing at their first World Cup.
The changes included captain Owen Farrell returning from suspension but arguably it was another flyhalf, Marcus Smith, starting for the first time at fullback, who stole the limelight, with flashes of the spontaneous touches England have missed in recent months that made a strong case for his inclusion in the team later in the tournament.
Although England can start planning for a quarter-final in Marseille against Wales, Australia or Fiji, they are not mathematically assured of progress as defeat to Samoa in their final game in two weeks, combined with other results, could leave them in a three-way tie at the top which would be decided on points difference
They top the standings on 14 points. Samoa and Japan have five, Argentina four and Chile are yet to register after three defeats.
It took England a while to string much together on Saturday as they tried too much, too soon, but once Arundell was set up for a walk-in try after 20 minutes, the floodgates opened.
A strong maul sent hooker Theo Dan over, Arundell got another gift after a tap and go by Farrell caught the Chile defence napping and then a nice Smith break set up prop Bevan Rodd to force his way over.
The best of the bunch came just before the break when Smith gathered the ball after a halfway line turnover, sprinted ahead and got a lovely bounce from his own chip to score and secure a 31-0 halftime lead.
Chile prop Matias Dittus was yellow-carded for dangerously pulling down a maul and England immediately added their sixth through Dan after another maul.
Arundell then got on the end of an Elliot Daly kick to complete one of the easiest hat-tricks anyone will ever score at a World Cup.
George Ford came on at flyhalf after 50 minutes, with Farrell moving to inside centre and Smith remaining at 15 as the “three 10s” concept discussed by England’s coaches this week came to fruition.
It was one-way traffic by then and Arundell got his fourth, chipping and gathering his own kick and touching down with a spectacular forward roll.
Ford and Smith then combined to send Arundell in for his fifth. That equalled England’s individual record previously shared by three players — Josh Lewsey against Uruguay in their triumphant 2003 World Cup campaign, Rory Underwood against Fiji in 1989 and Daniel Lambert against France in 1907.
Another lovely dummy by Ford sent Smith in for his second try to cap a brilliant individual display and flanker Jack Willis finished things off with the 11th.
Farrell, who converted eight of them, had a solid return after his four-game ban and Borthwick is likely to keep him in his first-choice side, probably at centre with Ford at flyhalf.
Chile, who described the match as the biggest in their history, showed touches of ambition in the first half but never really threatened and were chasing shadows after the break.
Though the 11 tries will catch the eye, England’s defence was again immense and after three games they have conceded only one try –- in the last minute against Argentina.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare Fallon)
