Even before the kickoff of their semifinal against New Zealand, the English had chosen to challenge the All Blacks. During the haka, they positioned themselves in "V", points at the opposite of the All Blacks and did not hesitate to cross the midfield line, thus breaking the rules of the World Cup. The XV of the Rose wanted to show that he was not afraid of this formidable New Zealand team. And then it only took him 90 seconds of play to realize his intentions, with a first try signed by the three-quarter center Manu Tuilagi and transformed by Owen Farrell.

Unconventional from England at Haka time # ENGvNZLpic.twitter.com / kBJ0dcrK68

The Rugby Paper (@TheRugbyPaper) October 26, 2019

The English have made a start of a breathtaking meeting, jostling the double world champions in title. Very powerful, they monopolized the ball during the first 40 minutes of the match by putting a lot of rhythm in this meeting. Their coach Eddie Jones announced before the semi-final that England could "change the history of rugby: three times already, the two teams had clashed at the World Cup, with so many defeats for the English and a humiliation as a bonus, the All Blacks swept them in the semifinals in 1995 (45-29).

The XV of England has managed the feat Saturday to wean balloons the New Zealand team that has exhausted to halt the offensives of the XV of the Rose. Winger Anthony Watson fooled the All Blacks' defense while the XV's forward of the Rose shone in conquest, even allowing their opponents to steal balloons. But this dominance did not translate into more than 3 points on the scoreboard, thanks to a penalty from George Ford, and the New Zealanders managed to limit the breakage, only 10 points behind in the middle. -time.

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The English attacked the second half with the same intentions and were threatening. Confident in the power of his forwards, the XV of the Rose even made the choice to challenge the All Blacks in the 43rd minute, while he could have tried to pass 3 points on a penalty. A wise decision since the half-melee Ben Youngs managed to cross the defense flatten the ball in the New Zealand goal. But the referee canceled this test due to a slight overhead. And it was on a Farrell penalty that they managed to score 3 more points.

Unable to score any points for 56 minutes, New Zealanders have made several changes, including returning the experienced Sonny Bill Williams. And they finally scored their first points thanks to an attempt by Ardie Savea who took advantage of an English mistake on a touch. Opener Richie Mo'unga took the lead and the New Zealanders reduced their lead to 6 points (7-13).

Dominated and uninspired in this semifinal, the All Blacks have tried in vain to reverse the course of play in the last 20 minutes. The English could not miss this opportunity to compete again in a World Cup final, 12 years after their loss to South Africa (6-15). Very aggressive, they kept the stranglehold on the ball and passed 2 additional penalties. The best were blank Saturday on the pitch and the All Blacks will not be able to defend their world title in the final. They will play in third place against the loser of the semi-final between Wales and South Africa held Sunday in Yokohama.