England star Danny Care has credited Alan Shearer for the motivation to get over the line in their final Rugby World Cup pool stage 18-17 win over Samoa. Scrum-half Care scored the winning try in the final moments of Saturday’s match to ensure Steve Borthwick’s side kept up their perfect record in France, despite an otherwise unconvincing performance.
Samoa had been leading for the entirety of the second half but having been reduced to 14 men as a result of Tumua Manu’s tackle on Farrell in the air, England were able to take advantage.
As they upped the pressure on the Samoan line through several set pieces, Care picked the ball up from the back of the scrum and was able to dart over the line to touch down for the winning score.
Care celebrated with his arm aloft as Owen Farrell converted the try to seal the win, but not before some late drama as Samoa had time to go down the other end of the pitch and attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. A fine move saw Nerie Fomai head towards the line but man of the moment Care denied him, perhaps with a little help from Shearer as he later revealed.
“It has been on my mind that I haven’t scored many tries for England, especially recently being out of the fold for a few years you never think you’re going to get another opportunity like that,” Care said after the victory over Samoa.
“I decided that if I did do it, I’ll enjoy it and if you do decide to do an Alan Shearer celebration across the stadium you better make that tackle after! I don’t really remember the tackle – it was a blur – but I remember thinking you can’t celebrate like Alan Shearer and not make that tackle!
“The boys put their body on the line for 80 minutes so the least you can do when you’ve been on the bench is run back and try and tackle. Hopefully that shows a bit about what we’re about as a team. Even though it wasn’t a brilliant performance, we work hard for each other.”
It was a disjointed England performance that has led to Borthwick being urged to axe key members of the team – including captain Farrell – as they likely would not have got away with the win had Care not prevented the late score after going over for his matchwinning try moments earlier.
Next up for England in the quarter-finals is a Fiji side that squeezed into the knockout stage with a losing bonus point against Portugal on Sunday, as Borthwick will be hoping for a much-improved performance to see his side into the final four.
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