England Claims Ninth Consecutive Win Over Physical 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

The English squad scored 4 second-half tries to overcome a resilient Fiji side in their latest autumn international.

This win extends the English team's winning run to nine games and backs up their triumph over the Wallabies the previous weekend.

England opened the scoring through Luke Cowan-Dickie before the visitors responded with scores by Tevita Ikanivere and Muntz.

Fly-half the Fijian playmaker failed to convert either try but slotted a penalty goal to take the Fijians further ahead before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossed.

Prop Genge and the Fijian hooker then exchanged tries to begin an thrilling second half.

Substitutes Jamie George and Arundell, who demonstrated his scintillating pace, touched down to take the English side clear.

Those scores came around Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli fumbling the ball when attempting to score.

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

The English team now face the All Blacks next Saturday in their toughest test theoretically this fall.

Before this meeting, the English team had won 8 of their 9 matches with the Fijian side – most recently taking 30-24 in the quarter-finals of the last global tournament.

Their sole loss came just weeks before the tournament in Europe and was a significant shift under the head coach.

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

After slick phase play, number eight Cunningham-South made good ground before Cowan-Dickie barged over for the opening score from close range, with the Fijian's score off the back of a maul providing a quick response.

Nicknamed the Flying Fijians, that was apparent in defense through monstrous opening period tackles in the center, with full-back Smith, used as a additional playmaker, in especial targeted.

But it was the classic attacking Fijian flare that was the highlight in the first forty as offloads cut England's defence open for Muntz to touch down.

Feyi-Waboso sharply finished 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 bunker review.

England pulled away from Australia the previous weekend in the final quarter through the impact of their bench that contained six Lions tourists.

A significantly altered starting lineup from the win over the Wallabies did score the following touchdown as Genge crossed following a strong carry 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 five of his bench on the 54-minute mark – including Lions players Pollock and Tom Curry.

With the match still up for grabs, Fijian number nine the halfback fumbled of the ball when stretching for the tryline to negate replacement the hooker's score.

Breakdown specialist Earl, a try-scorer versus the Wallabies, produced a spectacular game-saving stop to maintain breathing room between the sides.

It capped another outstanding overall performance by Earl, who picked up back-to-back man of the match honors.

Arundell's pace to race on to a grubber kick demonstrated exactly why England's bench is so impactful.

It is packed with top players and talent, which has helped secure victories in the closing stages that were lost against Australia and the All Blacks last autumn.

Considering the Scottish side pushed the All Blacks hard, the English team will feel confident of making a big statement next week.

Should they win, the bench 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)