How do you stop Levani Botia?
Many have tried and many have failed to configure a plan to neutralise the Fijian flanker at the breakdown, but that is the daunting challenge that Steve Borthwick and his team have confronted this week ahead of Sunday’s quarter-final. The England head coach is an admirer of the 34-year-old, and came within a whisker of signing him for Leicester. Given that, [Sam Underhill’s call-up comes as little surprise](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2023/10/08/england-team-news-sam-underhill-replaces-jack-willis/). The Bath flanker’s mission is simple: to replicate Botia in training and condition England as well as he can to nullify the Fijian threat.
Telegraph Sport has learnt that England’s preparations this week have been two-fold, centring on their own breakdown work – as well as the referee’s – to thwart the Fijian jackal menace. It is not just Botia, either; nine different players have won jackal turnovers or penalties for them in their four World Cup matches, one of whom, scrum-half Frank Lomani, won as many turnovers as Sam Cane and Michael Hooper did in last year’s Super Rugby, in fewer minutes. Fiji have forced more penalties (across all categories) than any other team at this World Cup.
England this week have focused on winning the race to the breakdown, being accurate when they arrive – it is no coincidence that the match-day 23 features those who have the greatest potency at attacking rucks – but Borthwick and his lieutenants are under no illusions of the importance of Mathieu Raynal, the French referee, in determining Sunday’s victor in Marseille.
Richard Wigglesworth, England’s attack coach, highlighted as much earlier this week. “\[The breakdown\] is going to be slightly different,” he said. “\[Referees\] want guys to get out of that tackle zone before competing. Fiji tend to just compete and then work it out from there. They are slowing it down or taking it off you.”
Half of the battle is making sure that the 50/50 breakdown calls go England’s way. It is understood that Borthwick will highlight instances of perceived Fijian illegality at the breakdown – particularly in the victory over the Wallabies, as shown below, with suggestions that they failed to release the tackled player and occasionally had hands on the floor – in his pre-match discussion with Raynal.
It is understood, too, that captain Owen Farrell will be a regular presence at the side of the French official come kick-off on Sunday. [Farrell received much vitriol for his shot-clock gaffe](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2023/10/07/england-v-samoa-rugby-world-cup-2023-live-score-updates/) against Samoa; the lesser spotted reality of the captain’s error, however, was that the time ‘wasted’ had actually been spent explaining to referee Andrew Brace that his team-mates were being taken out regularly off the ball. Moments later, Samoa received a yellow.
Last season in the Top 14, out of all those to hit more than 100 defensive rucks, Botia ended the season with the greatest efficacy. In this tournament, only three players have attended more defensive rucks than the Fijian flanker – nicknamed ‘La Machine’ in La Rochelle, the town in which he is worshipped and stars for Stade Rochelais – but Botia only has three turnovers to his name, all against Australia, after falling below his electrifying best in subsequent matches against Georgia and Portugal.
The work-rate of Botia, however, proves that the flanker plays the law of averages with regard to refereeing decisions. Some of his turnovers are legal, some are not; some he gets away with; others he doesn’t. But Botia, a former prison warden in his native Fiji, is willing to take the risk, knowing that the refereeing of the breakdown has descended into one of the most challenging – and critical – elements of an official’s job, with the margin between a legal and illegal turnover so tight, and often so difficult to discern.
Telegraph Sport understands that England’s concern lies with the Botia-Raynal cocktail. Of the breakdown penalties awarded by the Frenchman so far this tournament, 57 per cent have gone against the attacking team – with the jackaler. Wayne Barnes is down at 32 per cent – the lowest – with Ben O’Keeffe and Jaco Peyper, the other two quarter-final referees, at 41 and 43 per cent respectively. Brace is the highest of the wider group of officials at a stratospheric 72 per cent; meaning, on almost three-quarters of the occasions that Brace has blown his whistle for a ruck infringement this tournament, his arm has pointed towards the defending side. With one at 72 per cent and another at 32 per cent, rugby basically becomes a different sport, presenting an uncomfortable truth for World Rugby: two equally experienced and capable referees can look at a ruck and arrive at completely opposite decisions.
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