LILLE, France (Reuters) – Coach Pablo Lemoine said Chile never had a chance of competing against England in their World Cup clash on Saturday having never previously played opposition of similar calibre.
England ran in 11 tries to finish 71-0 winners and Lemoine said it was neither disappointing nor a surprise to see the lowest-ranked team at the tournament so badly beaten by the 2003 world champions.
“I’m not really disappointed, sorry, that’s the reality, that’s what is happening with the rankings,” he said.
“When we come here, we are part of the show but we never can play the games because we’ve never played that kind of game during the cycle between the World Cups.
“I hope that changes because it’s not good for the players or for the supporters… the score is completely unfair.”
Los Condores started brightly, holding England out for 20 minutes and even causing their opponents a few problems with a quickfire passing game.
After England winger Henry Arundell crossed for the first of his five tries, however, the Chileans were soon overwhelmed by an efficient and powerful opposition.
Chile were beaten 42-12 by Japan on their World Cup debut and lost 43-10 to Samoa in their second match, with Saturday’s defeat making it nine straight losses since they qualified for the tournament.
Captain Martin Sigren took a slightly more optimistic view than his coach of the evening at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
“A tough lesson,” he said. “Not one that we haven’t had before.
“It’s impossible not to remember that four years ago, we were getting the same results against Canada, against USA. We were losing games against Brazil. Four years later, look at us, we’re here, so I have to hold on to that.
“I cannot let my arms drop. We will keep on working, maybe four years later the results will be different.”
Chile move on to an all-South American World Cup clash against the Pumas of Argentina for their final Pool D match in Nantes next Saturday.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Lyon, editing by Clare Fallon)
