England fly-half Owen Farrell was completely behind Chris Robshaw’s decision to go for the corner and the win at the end of their 2015 Rugby World Cup defeat to Wales.
Similar to their 2015 RBS 6 Nations match which saw England run out 21-16 winners at the Millenium Stadium, the game was played at breakneck speed from start to finish.
This time around, England led 16-9 at half-time thanks to a Jonny May try, but a sensational Welsh comeback, powered by 23 points from Dan Biggar, saw them secure a vital 28-25 win.
Farrell, who missed the entire 2015 RBS 6 Nations through injury, had the opportunity to draw England level in the dying minutes with a penalty out wide.
But captain Robshaw instead elected to go for a five-metre lineout instead of taking a tricky kick on for a draw. “You tend to back yourself as a kicker, but I wanted to back the decision,” said Farrell.
“We had a chat about the decision together. But at that time we wanted to go and win the game. It’s a risk-reward type thing.
“When you make the decision, as a group, to go for the corner, you back it. If it comes off then the decision is brilliant, but it hasn’t turned out that way this time.
“We all bought in. If it doesn’t work out you’ll get criticised. It’s something to jump on.”
England’s first-half performance, particularly at the scrum which was under so much pressure against Fiji, showed much promise, as demonstrated by their ten-point lead with half an hour to go.
However, repeated errors at the breakdown allowed Biggar to kick Wales back into the game, before a Lloyd Williams grubber kick saw Gareth Davies cross over to draw level with nine minutes left.
And yet another Biggar penalty gave Wales the lead which England fail to overhaul, leaving them needing to beat Australia next week or rely on other results to go their way to qualify for the quarter-finals.
But despite the difficult situation in which England now find themselves, Farrell is confident that they would take the same action given the same chance.
“It’s not worked out this time, but if we’d got the match-winning try everyone would have praised the decision,” added Farrell.
“It came down to a feeling of what’s going on on the pitch at the time.
“You can’t sit down and talk about it off the field when you’ve not got a feel for a game.
“The leaders are the leaders because they have a feel for the game and can be trusted.”
