Key events
Robert Kitson’s match report
I’m off to cover the South Africa vs Scotland game, see you over there…
A paddling by England built on greater physicality and higher tempo in attack and defence. Fiji suffered with the red card but it was already a one-sided affair before Kurivoli lost his head. An improved performance from Borthwick’s men, but the real test is whether they can look as decent as this in Argentina is seven days’ time.
FULL TIME!
PEEP! An 11 try vanquishing is drawn to a close by the ref.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 73 England (Henry Pollock)
80 mins. Pollock runs a simple in to out line off the back off the lineout to slice through the defence and cross for his hat-trick.
78 min. One more England scrum penalty for the road.
76 mins. The lineout is won by Fiji with the flung all the way left to Sowakula who kicks it forward to turn the defence. Caluori tidies it up and runs it across the field and forward to safety.
75 mins. Fiji have a penalty in their own half that Muntz sends to touch midway in the England half.
71 mins. Some possession for Fiji that is lateral, makes about 5 metres for 9 phases in their own half, and results in a horribly sliced kick to touch.
Apart from that it was decent, like.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 66 England (Henry Pollock)
68 mins. From their own 10m line England spring to the left, moving the ball via Smith again to Slade who dummy pumps the ball before popping to Pollock who juggles it, grips it and accelerates on an arcing run around Rayasi to score up the left touchline.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 59 England (Noah Caluori)
65 mins. Another try that has a Fin Smith bullet pass as a catalyst, this one to Slade once more but he this time feeds the young winger rather than putting his head down himself. Caluori takes flight to swan dive into the corner.
“Said it before and I’ll say it again. Marcus is England’s best 9 by far. Fast, great pass, great vision.” ventures Christopher Howe.
He’s covering there as replacement Mitchell has some injury trouble; bringing the Austin Healey utility energy to the TikTok generation.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 54 England (Henry Slade)
59 mins. Relentless stuff from England, as it has been all game, with their defence swarming on kick chases and generally allowing no breathing space. The latest forces Muntz into a poor clearing kick which is soon moved to the right via a cute Fin Smith pass to Slade. He drives for the line and has enough momentum to carry him over the line despite the tackle of Ravouvou.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 47 England (Henry Pollock)
55 mins. Ben Earl snaffles the ball as it comes loose from a Fiji ruck on the 10m line, he storms forward before putting in a clever kick in-behind to give a foot race to the goal line. Pollock is first to it, diving and grounding one handed.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 42 England (Immanuel Feyi-Waboso)
53 mins. There was an advantage being played in the midst of all that, so Smith sends it back to touch for another 5m lineout. This time the ball is off the top and fizzed to the backs to have a go, moving all the way left to Feyi-Waboso to take flight and ground one handed while outside the plane of touch. Great finish under pressure for a Rayasi tackle.
50 mins. Another Fin Smith kick pings into the deep corner of Fiji territory. Yato covers across but slips as he plays the ball and flings it into touch as his hands hit the ground.
The 5m lineout from England is pulled into a maul for sub Cowan-Dickie to do the necessary. The try is initially given, before the TMO spots a double movement and rules it out.
TRY! Fiji 8 – 35 England (Tevita Ikanivere)
47 mins. Rayasi has a lateral run across the English tackle line until he steps through a gap then finds Ravouvou with a pass. The centre moves into the 22 and England are all kinds of offside as they scramble for the first time in the game. Repeated offside advantages are played through by Fiji before Ikanivere drives over from a metre out.
Fantastic riposte from Fiji at the start of the half.
44 mins. Pepper can’t hold the ball in the tackle on the Fiji 10m line so we’ll have another scrum for Fiji to try and survive.
Which they ably to and move the ball to Wainiqolo before Lomani decides there’s nothing on and box kicks away.
42 mins. Joe Heyes spills the ball and from the scrum Botia has a strong carry from the base. He’s halted by Smith and the attack gathers no more momentum, forcing replacement scrum-half Lomani to kick it away.
SECOND HALF!
Fin Smith lets the ball fly from his boot to restart the match.
A match that was already at Dacia Sandero level of ugly for the Fijians is now, due to that red card, about to get to Preston Bus Station levels in the second half. Even without booting the opposition their discipline is awaful and they look very, very tired already.
England, for their part, are a few handling errors away from dishing out an epic paddling. Which is surely incoming now.
HALF TIME!
PEEEEEEEEEEP! An eventful end to the half, but an end nevertheless.
RED CARD! Simione Kuruvoli (Fiji)
Ref Davidson notes that Kurivoli kicked out after Genge released him, so the whatever small mitigation there may have been is gone and that means a permanent red card.
DISALLOWED TRY! Fiji 3 – 35 England (Kalaveti Ravouvou)
40+3 mins. It all looks very laboured by Fiji until a big Yato run forces England to leave a massive gap at the edge of a ruck for Ravouvou to gallop through and score.
BUT WAIT! In a previous phase Genge was holding Kurivoli on the ground, which the scrum-half deals with by donkey kicking the prostrate prop in the guts.
40 mins. A short kick-off from Muntz is regathered and moved through hands into midfielf on the England 22 before a handling error kills it dead. The scrum is lost horribly by the visitors and this will give Fiji another chance at the last knockings of the half.
TRY! Fiji 3 – 35 England (Seb Atkinson)
38 mins. A kick in behind from F Smith is not dealt with by Wainiqolo and the ball comes back on the England side Marcus Smith has a dancing run into the 22. A couple of passes later Atkinson takes an offload from van Poortvliet to walk in.
Fin Smith converts
TRY! Fiji 3 – 28 England (Benhard Janse van Rensburg)
35 mins. Ref Davidson has now begun awarding pens against the Fiji scrum before it’s even fully set, this one for Mesake Doge engaging illegally. England unsurprisingly opt for a scrum that this time actually completes and is moved to the backs for the debutant to smash over after an impressive Feyi-Waboso carry up to the line.
33 mins. Fiji’s scrum was like a balsawood concertina before Botia was binned and now it’s like a sweaty blancmange with England winning penalties at will.
The latest pause in play allows Borthwick to swap Slade for Bernhard Janse van Rensburg, making his debut off the bench.
31 mins. From a lineout around halfway, a decent Fijian platform after a big Tagitagivalu run in midfield is ruined by Pepper getting amongst the breakdown and forcing a Kurivoli knock-on.
TRY! Fiji 3 – 21 England (Guy Pepper)
28 mins. The ball is moved one phase from the ruck for Pepper to pick and go and drive over the line under pressure from three metres out.
Two points added from the tee.
YELLOW CARD! Levani Botia (Fiji)
27 mins. Back come England up to the Fiji line, where van Poortvliet is prevented from getting the ball away by Botia diving over the ruck and slapping the ball.
A very obvious yellow card is wielded in his direction.
26 mins. The clearing kick from Fiji invites another England attack, with Atkinson finding Marcus Smith to grubber the ball forward up the left touchline. Freeman is first to it ahead of Ravouvou but again the ball is spilled forward with the line at the mercy of England. It is surely a matter of time before they score again.
23 mins. An England scrum just outside the Fiji 22 results in a free kick for the visitors and the tap is quckly taken by van Poortvliet for Atkinson to carry into the red zone. A kick is tickled through the Fiji line for Earl to chase which he fumbles forward when attempting to gather under the right post.
20 mins. We’re back. During the break there was much talk on comms of the brilliance of the veteran Botia in the back row. He rewards these notices by flying up and clattering van Poortvliet at the base of the ruck entirely illegally.
19 mins. There is a flying competition in the air for the ball, which Feyi-Waboso spills forward under pressure. Another solid Fiji scrum has them spraying the ball wide for Karawalevu to have a run into the England half. The attack moves back to the right hand side through hands before it breaks down.
That allows Ref Davidson to call the water break.
TRY! Fiji 3- 14 England (Jamie George)
15 mins. Tagitagivalu is penalised for hands in the ruck and this is compounded by Ratuva playing his oppo in the air at the resulting lineout in the 22. England send it back to touch, execute a catch and drive that they throw plenty into resulting in their captain flopping over for an easy score.
PENALTY! Fiji 3 – 7 England (Caleb Muntz)
12 mins. Fiji win a scrum penalty! I know it’s only 12 miutes in but that is already well against the run of play. Muntz wastes no time calling for the tee to get his team on the scoreboard.
9 mins. Back on the ball in the middle of the park, England are moving through some phases before van Poortvliet has a dart from the ruck. He can’t find a team-mate with his offload and the ball pinballs about before reaching Kurivoli to hack it on into the England half. A scrambling Freeman reaches it but can’t hold on, which gives Karawalevu a chance to pick and drive for the corner, but the scrambling defence boinks him into touch a couple of feet short.
TRY! Fiji 0 – 7 England (Marcus Smith)
6 mins. The Fiji scrum is in all sorts of bother already, and on the latest penalty advantage Fin Smith calls for the ball and aims a cross-kick towards Freeman on the right wing. It bounces over the winger’s head and looks to be heading to touch before it ricochets back off the corner flag for Marcus Smith to jump on it and score! An absolute novelty of a try.
Conversion added.
Officials today, by the way:
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Assistant Referee 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
4 mins. There is no capitalising on the position by England as they flap the ball forward at the lineout. Kurivoli picks the ball from the base of a retreating scrum in his own 22, but the pressure from England forces a knock on.
A scrum for England incoming, seven metres from the Fijian line.
2 mins. A single carry before Van Poortvliet sets up the caterpillar ruck to box-kick to touch for a zero nonsense start from England. This is not the case from Fiji from the lineout as Tagitagivalu spills a simple tap off the top; presenting England a scrum that promptly results in penalty against Mawi.
Kick Off!
Caleb Muntz chips through the shimmering summer air deep into England territory.
There is some impressive choral singing and warrior expression from a delegation of Fijian singers and cultural reps pre-match.
Seeing all this in the north of England is a reminder that there is a Fijian community in Rochdale, due to recruitment of players by Rochdale Hornets RLFC in the 1960s.
“Afternoon from the gods in the Hill Dickinson stadium Lee.” emails Guy Hornsby. “As you say, it’s a royally baking day but it’s brilliant to see England playing out of the capital for the first time since the late 90s, from memory. I wish the RFU did this for England home games, too. It is surely a day that will help Fiji with conditions, and you feel England will empty the bench from 50 to mitigate that. It’ll be no easy game, and so a win is a must, but you feel some enterprise is needed to quell some of the rightful noise.”
England don’t often leave south west London, Guy, you are correct, but there have been a handful since the 1990s:
6 June 2009 – Argentina 15–37 England, Old Trafford, Manchester. Much like today this was technically an away fixture, with the match relocated to Manchester by the Argentine union for financial reasons, so England were the visiting side even though the match was played on English soil.
10 October 2015 – England 60–3 Uruguay, City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad). A Rugby World Cup 2015 pool match played in Manchester as part of that tournament’s distributed hosting.
7 August 2019 – England 37–0 Italy, St James’ Park, Newcastle. A World Cup warm-up fixture, taking the Test to Tyneside.
Speaking of the heat, the Nations Championship organisers have agreed to an extended 20-minute half-time break and additional three-minute water breaks for all players and match officials after 20 minutes of each half.
The water breaks will take place when there is a natural break in play.
Rugby is often viewed as a four-quarter game in these modern times, and it will be interesting to see how the game pans out given it’s been fully codified that way due to the weather.
It’s a glorious day in Liverpool, and by glorious I mean absolutely sodding boiling. Spare a thought for Ollie Chessum, who is not only a very ginger man but also closer to the sun than most of us.
Although, it gets cooler the more altitude you have, so he may actually be better off.
Either way, the point is that it’s like a foundry with a broken thermostat out there.
Pre match reading
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Teams
Fiji make a handful of changes to the backline that faced Wales in Cardiff, with Selestino Ravutaumada, Semi Radradra, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula and Frank Lomani making way for Vuate Karawalevu, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Caleb Muntz and Simione Kuruvoli
Borthwick has tunred to the experience of Henry Slade and the dynamism of Guy Pepper centre and openside, with Tommy Freeman shifting out to the wing to accommodate Slade. Uncapped trio George Kloska, Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Noah Caluori are on the bench.
Fiji: Salesi Rayasi; Vuate Karawalevu, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Josua Tuisova, Jiuta Wainiqolo; Caleb Muntz, Simione Kuruvoli; Eroni Mawi, Tevita Ikanivere, Mesake Doge; Tevita Ratuva, Isoa Nasilasila; Peceli Yato, Lekima Tagitagivalu, Levani Botia.
Replacements: Sam Matavesi, Livai Natave, Peni Ravai, Temo Mayanavanua, Elia Canakaivata, Pita-Gus Sowakula, Frank Lomani, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula.
England: Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Seb Atkinson, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Fin Smith, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes; Alex Coles, George Martin; Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, George Kloska, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Noah Caluori.
Preamble
Fiji and England arrive today at the (sort of) newly minted Hill Dickinson Stadium for this, the notional home fixture fir the pacific islanders vs the team actually at home. Welcome to round two of the Nations Championship.
A tale of two losses accompanies the teams’ journey to thus fixture under the blazing heat, with each seeking to set right some version of embarrassment following respective heavy defeats to Wales and South Africa.
Steve Borthwick will be the more troubled of the two coaches such was the extent of the stomping they received from the Springboks, and nothing less than a convincing stomping of their own will do today. Fiji will point to their team being something of a hotchpotch selection in Cardiff last week as the reason they were not at the their best. There are no such excuses today with more of the usual primary selections in the line-up, particularly at half-backs, plus lingering memories of the close contest in the QF of the last World Cup where they proved they are the equal of England.
England must win this one, stay with us to find out if they do.
