England Secures 9th Consecutive Victory Against Tough Fiji

Quilter Nations Series

England (14) 38

Tries: Cowan-Dickie, Feyi-Waboso, Genge, George, Arundell, Itoje Cons: F Smith 5

Fiji (13) 18

Tries: Ikanivere 2, Muntz Pen: Muntz

England notched 4 second-half tries to beat a resilient Fiji side in their second autumn international.

This win continues Steve Borthwick's side's winning run to nine matches and supports their triumph over Australia last Saturday.

The home side opened the scoring through hooker Cowan-Dickie before the visitors answered back with scores by Ikanivere and Muntz.

Number ten Muntz failed to convert either try but kicked a penalty goal to take the visitors further ahead before Feyi-Waboso scored.

Prop Genge and Ikanivere then traded scores to begin an exciting final forty minutes.

Substitutes George and Henry Arundell, who showed his scintillating pace, finished off tries to take the hosts clear.

These tries came around Fijian halfback Kuruvoli fumbling the ball when attempting to score.

England captain Maro Itoje, who also entered as a substitute, grabbed the final try.

The English team now meet the All Blacks this coming weekend in their biggest challenge theoretically this autumn.

Prior to this encounter, England had claimed victory in 8 of their nine games with the Fijian side – most lately taking 30-24 in the last eight of the last global tournament.

That one defeat came two months prior the tournament in Europe and was a major turning point under the head coach.

With Fiji on a five-match winning run – their equal best run since the late nineties – the game was always likely to be competitive.

Following smooth attacking phases, number eight Cunningham-South made good ground before the hooker forced his way over for the first try from short distance, with Ikanivere's try off the back of a driving maul providing a swift reply.

Nicknamed the Flying Fijians, that was evident in defence through monstrous first-half tackles in the center, with full-back Marcus Smith, deployed as a second playmaker, in especial picked out.

But it was the vintage attacking Fijian flare that was the highlight in the opening half as passes out of the tackle sliced through the English defense for the fly-half to touch down.

Feyi-Waboso expertly collected a kick across the field by Fin Smith to take the hosts into the lead after he had been illegally challenged in the air by Selestino Ravutaumada, who was given a sin-binning following a video review.

England pulled away from Australia last Saturday in the last twenty minutes through the strength of their bench that contained six Lions tourists.

A much-changed starting lineup from the victory over the Australians did grab the following touchdown as the prop went over following a strong carry by Ollie Lawrence, who was returning to the national side after tearing his Achilles tendon versus the Italians in March.

However, after a clever line-out move was finished by Ikanivere, the coach introduced five of his bench on the 54-minute mark – including Lions tourists Henry Pollock and Curry.

With the game still up for grabs, Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli lost control of the ball when reaching for the tryline to negate substitute George's try.

Flanker Ben Earl, a try-scorer against the Wallabies, produced a stunning game-saving stop to maintain breathing room between the sides.

It topped off another outstanding overall performance by Earl, who received back-to-back man of the match honors.

The substitute's speed to chase down a kick through demonstrated exactly why England's bench is so impactful.

It is packed with stars and talent, which has helped secure wins in the closing stages that were squandered versus Australia and the All Blacks last autumn.

Considering Scotland pushed the All Blacks hard, the English team will fancy their chances of sending a message next week.

If successful, the substitutes will probably play another key factor.

England: M Smith; Freeman, Lawrence, Dingwall, Feyi-Waboso; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Heyes, Coles, Chessum, Pepper, Earl, Cunningham-South

Replacements: George, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Itoje, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, Arundell

Fiji: Rayasi; Ravutaumada, Ravouvou, Tuisova, Wainiqolo; Muntz, Kuruvoli; Mawi, Ikanivere, Doge, Nasilasila, Mayanavanua, Sowakula, Canakaivata, Mata

Replacements: Togiatama, Hetet, Tawake, Vocevoce, Murray, Wye, Armstrong-Ravula, Maqala

Sin-bin: Ravutaumada

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)

Assistant referee: Luc Ramos (France) and Katsuki Furuse (Japan)

Television match official: Mike Adamson (Scotland)