England Claims 9th Straight Victory Over Physical 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

England scored 4 second-half tries to defeat a resilient Fijian team in their second autumn international.

This win continues the English team's undefeated streak to nine matches and follows up their win over the Wallabies last Saturday.

The home side got on the board first through Luke Cowan-Dickie before Fiji responded with scores by Ikanivere and Muntz.

Fly-half Muntz missed both conversions but kicked a penalty goal to take the visitors further clear before Feyi-Waboso scored.

Prop Genge and Ikanivere then exchanged tries to begin an entertaining second half.

Substitutes Jamie George and Henry Arundell, who demonstrated his scintillating pace, finished off tries to take the English side clear.

These tries came around Fijian halfback Kuruvoli dropping the ball when going for the tryline.

England captain Maro Itoje, who also entered as a substitute, scored the last touchdown.

The English team now play New Zealand this coming weekend in their toughest test on paper this fall.

Prior to this encounter, the English team had won 8 of their nine games with the Fijian side – most recently winning 30-24 in the last eight of the last global tournament.

Their sole loss came two months prior the tournament in France and was a significant shift under Borthwick.

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

After smooth attacking phases, back rower Chandler Cunningham-South gained valuable meters before Cowan-Dickie forced his way over for the first try from short distance, with the Fijian's score off the back of a driving maul adding a quick response.

Known as the Flying Fijians, that was clear in defense through huge first-half tackles in the center, with number fifteen Smith, used as a additional playmaker, in especial targeted.

But it was the vintage Fijian attacking flair that was the highlight in the first forty as passes out of the tackle sliced through the English defense for Muntz to score.

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

The English team pulled away from the Wallabies the previous weekend in the last twenty minutes through the power of their replacements that contained multiple British and Irish Lions.

A significantly altered starting XV from the win over the Wallabies did score the following touchdown as the prop went over following a strong carry by Lawrence, who was returning to the national side after suffering his Achilles versus the Italians in spring.

However, after a clever line-out move was completed by the Fijian, Borthwick unloaded several of his substitutes on the 54-minute mark – featuring Lions players Henry 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 substitute the hooker's score.

Flanker Ben Earl, who scored versus Australia, produced a spectacular game-saving stop to maintain a narrow lead between the sides.

It capped another all-round impressive display by Earl, who picked up back-to-back man of the match honors.

The substitute's speed to chase down a grubber kick demonstrated exactly why the English replacements is so impactful.

It is full of stars and quality, which has aided in wins in the final quarter that were squandered versus the Wallabies and New Zealand the previous fall.

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

Should they win, the substitutes will likely 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)