England Secures Ninth Straight Win Against Tough Fijian Side
Autumn International 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
The English squad notched 4 tries after halftime to beat a tough Fiji side in their latest autumn international.
The victory lengthens the English team's undefeated streak to nine games and supports their triumph over the Wallabies the previous weekend.
The home side opened the scoring through Luke Cowan-Dickie before the visitors answered back with tries by Ikanivere and Muntz.
Fly-half Muntz missed both conversions but nailed a penalty to take the visitors further clear before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossed.
Prop Genge and the Fijian hooker then exchanged tries 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 either side of Fijian halfback Kuruvoli fumbling the ball when going for the tryline.
Skipper Itoje, who also came off the bench, secured the final try.
Borthwick's side now meet the All Blacks this coming weekend in their biggest challenge theoretically this fall.
The Fijians Start Fast to Pressure The English
Before this match, England had won 8 of their nine matches with Fiji – most lately winning 30-24 in the last eight of the 2023 World Cup.
That one defeat came just weeks before the competition in Europe and was a significant shift under the head coach.
With Fiji on a five-game streak – their joint longest streak since 1999 – the game was always likely to be hard-fought.
Following slick phase play, back rower Cunningham-South made good ground before the hooker forced his way over for the opening score from short distance, with Ikanivere's try off the back of a maul adding a swift reply.
Known as the flying Fijians, that was evident in defense through powerful opening period midfield hits, with full-back Smith, deployed as a additional playmaker, in especial picked out.
But it was the classic Fijian attacking flair that was the standout moment in the opening half as offloads sliced through the English defense for the fly-half to touch down.
Feyi-Waboso expertly collected a cross-field kick by Fin Smith to take England into the lead after he had been illegally challenged in the air by Selestino Ravutaumada, who was given a yellow card following a video review.
The English Impact Substitutes Delivers Again
England pulled away from Australia the previous weekend in the final quarter through the power of their bench that contained six British and Irish Lions.
A much-changed starting XV from the victory over the Australians did score the next try as Genge went over following a powerful run by Ollie Lawrence, who was returning to the national side after tearing his Achilles against the Italians in March.
However, after a clever line-out move was finished by Ikanivere, Borthwick introduced several of his substitutes on the 54-minute mark – including Lions players Henry Pollock and Tom Curry.
With the match still in the balance, Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli fumbled of the ball when reaching for the tryline to cancel out replacement the hooker's score.
Breakdown specialist Earl, a try-scorer against Australia, produced a spectacular game-saving stop to keep breathing room between the teams.
It capped another outstanding overall performance by Earl, who picked up consecutive player-of-the-match awards.
Arundell's pace to race on to a grubber kick demonstrated exactly why England's bench is so influential.
It is packed with top players and quality, which has helped secure wins in the closing stages that were squandered against Australia and the All Blacks last autumn.
Given Scotland ran New Zealand close, Borthwick's side will feel confident of sending a message next week.
If successful, the bench will probably play another key factor.
Team Sheets
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
Match Officials
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referee: Luc Ramos (France) and Katsuki Furuse (Japan)
Television match official: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
