England Earns Ninth Straight Victory Over 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 second-half tries to beat a physical Fiji side in their latest fall test match.

The victory lengthens the English team's winning run to nine games and follows up their triumph over Australia last Saturday.

England opened the scoring through Luke Cowan-Dickie before Fiji answered back with scores by Tevita Ikanivere and Muntz.

Fly-half Muntz missed both conversions but nailed a penalty goal to take the Fijians further ahead before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossed.

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

Replacements George and Arundell, who demonstrated his blistering speed, finished off tries to take the English side into a comfortable lead.

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

Skipper Itoje, who also entered as a substitute, scored the last touchdown.

The English team now play the All Blacks next Saturday in their biggest challenge theoretically this autumn.

Before this match, the English team had claimed victory in 8 of their 9 games with the Fijian side – most recently winning 30-24 in the quarter-finals of the last global tournament.

That one defeat came just weeks before the tournament in Europe and was a significant shift under the head coach.

With the Pacific Islanders on a five-game streak – their equal best run since 1999 – the fixture was always expected to be hard-fought.

After smooth attacking phases, number eight Chandler Cunningham-South gained valuable meters before the hooker barged over for the first try from short distance, with Ikanivere's try off the back of a maul providing a quick response.

Nicknamed the Flying Fijians, that was evident in defence through powerful opening period midfield hits, with full-back Marcus Smith, deployed as a additional playmaker, in particular picked out.

But it was the classic Fijian attacking flair that was the highlight in the opening half as offloads cut England's defence open for the fly-half to score.

Feyi-Waboso sharply finished a kick across the field by Fin Smith to take England into the lead after he had been dangerously taken out in the air by Ravutaumada, who was given a sin-binning following a bunker review.

The English team pulled away from the Wallabies the previous weekend in the final quarter through the strength of their replacements that contained multiple British and Irish Lions.

A much-changed starting lineup from the win over the Australians did score the following touchdown as Genge crossed following a powerful run by Ollie Lawrence, who was returning to the national side after suffering his Achilles tendon versus Italy in March.

Nonetheless, after a clever set piece was finished by the Fijian, the coach introduced several of his bench on the 54th minute – featuring Lions players Henry Pollock and Curry.

With the match still up for grabs, Fiji scrum-half the halfback fumbled of the ball when reaching for the goal line to cancel out substitute George's try.

Breakdown specialist Earl, a try-scorer versus Australia, produced a stunning game-saving stop to keep a narrow lead between the sides.

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

The substitute's speed to race on to a kick through demonstrated exactly why the English replacements is so impactful.

It is packed with stars and talent, which has aided in victories in the closing stages that were squandered against Australia and the All Blacks last autumn.

Considering the Scottish side ran New Zealand close, Borthwick's side will fancy their chances of sending a message next week.

If successful, the bench 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)