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LILLE, France, Sept 23 — Winger Henry Arundell scored five tries as England tore up the safety-first playbook from their first two matches at the Rugby World Cup in a crushing 71-0 defeat of Chile on Saturday to hand coach Steve Borthwick a selection quandary.
England, who made 12 changes from the starting lineup against Japan, scored 11 unanswered tries, including the five for 20-year-old winger Arundell, equalling an England record, albeit against the lowest ranked team in the tournament who are playing at their first World Cup.
The changes included captain Owen Farrell returning from suspension but arguably it was another flyhalf, Marcus Smith, starting for the first time at fullback, who stole the limelight, with flashes of the spontaneous touches England have missed in past matches.
Capping his efforts was his kick-through and impressive acceleration to touch down in the first half.
Los Condores also came wanting to play an open game but after a see-saw first 20 minutes they were largely on the back foot, with a malfunctioning line-out.
The Pool D victory means England have taken a decisive stride towards the quarter-finals.
They top Pool D on 14 points after three victories and can only be denied a knockout berth if they lose to Samoa and results conspire to produce a three-way tie, when points difference would be decisive.