England Claims Ninth Consecutive Win Over Tough Fijian Side

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

England racked up 4 tries after halftime to defeat a tough Fijian team in their latest fall test match.

This win extends the English team's winning run to nine games and follows up their triumph over Australia last Saturday.

The home side opened the scoring through Luke Cowan-Dickie before the visitors answered back with scores by Ikanivere and Caleb Muntz.

Number ten Muntz failed to convert either try but slotted a penalty to take the visitors further clear before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossed.

Prop Genge and the Fijian hooker then exchanged tries to spark an exciting second half.

Substitutes George and Henry Arundell, who showed his scintillating pace, finished off tries to take the English side into a comfortable lead.

These tries came either side of Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli spilling the ball when attempting to score.

Skipper Itoje, who also came off the bench, scored the final try.

The English team now play the All Blacks this coming weekend in their biggest challenge on paper this fall.

Before this meeting, the English team had claimed victory in eight of their 9 matches with the Fijian side – most recently taking a close contest in the last eight of the 2023 World Cup.

Their sole loss came two months prior the tournament in France and was a major turning point under Borthwick.

With the Pacific Islanders on a five-match winning run – their equal best streak since the late nineties – the game was always likely to be hard-fought.

Following smooth attacking phases, number eight Cunningham-South made good ground before Cowan-Dickie forced his way over for the opening score from close range, with the Fijian's score off the back of a driving maul providing a swift reply.

Known as the Flying Fijians, that was clear in defence through monstrous first-half tackles in the center, with full-back Marcus Smith, deployed as a additional playmaker, in especial picked out.

But it was the vintage Fijian attacking flair that was the highlight in the opening half as offloads cut England's defence open for Muntz to touch down.

The winger 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 Ravutaumada, who was awarded a sin-binning following a video review.

England pulled away from Australia the previous weekend in the last twenty minutes through the power of their replacements that included six Lions tourists.

A much-changed starting lineup from the victory over the Australians did score the following touchdown as the prop went over following a strong carry by Lawrence, who was returning to the national side after tearing his Achilles tendon against the Italians in March.

Nonetheless, after a smart line-out move was completed by the Fijian, the coach introduced several of his bench on the 54-minute mark – featuring Lions players Henry Pollock and Tom Curry.

With the game still up for grabs, Fiji scrum-half the halfback lost control of the ball when stretching for the goal line to negate replacement George's try.

Breakdown specialist Earl, a try-scorer against the Wallabies, produced a spectacular try-saving tackle to maintain breathing room between the teams.

It topped off another all-round impressive performance by Earl, who received back-to-back man of the match honors.

The substitute's speed to chase down a grubber kick showcased 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 versus the Wallabies and New Zealand last autumn.

Given Scotland ran New Zealand close, the English team will fancy their chances of sending a message next week.

If successful, the bench will probably again be crucial.

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)