England Claims Ninth Consecutive Victory Against 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

The English squad scored four tries after halftime to defeat a tough Fijian team in their second autumn international.

This win extends the English team's undefeated streak to nine games and backs up their triumph over Australia the previous weekend.

England opened the scoring through hooker Cowan-Dickie before the visitors answered back with scores by Ikanivere and Muntz.

Fly-half the Fijian playmaker failed to convert either try but kicked a penalty to take the Fijians further ahead before Feyi-Waboso scored.

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

Replacements George and Henry Arundell, who displayed his scintillating pace, touched down to take the hosts clear.

Those scores came either side of Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli dropping the ball when attempting to score.

England captain Maro Itoje, who also entered as a substitute, secured the final try.

Borthwick's side now meet New Zealand next Saturday in their toughest test on paper this autumn.

Prior to this meeting, England had claimed victory in eight of their nine 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 major turning point under the head coach.

With Fiji on a five-match winning run – their joint longest run since the late nineties – the fixture was always likely to be tight.

Following slick phase play, number eight Chandler Cunningham-South made good ground before the hooker forced his way over for the opening score from short distance, with the Fijian's score off the back of a maul providing a quick response.

Nicknamed the Flying Fijians, that was evident in defense through huge first-half tackles in the center, with full-back Smith, deployed as a second playmaker, in especial targeted.

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

Feyi-Waboso sharply finished a kick across the field by Fin Smith to take England ahead after he had been illegally challenged in the air by Selestino Ravutaumada, who was given a sin-binning following a bunker review.

England broke clear from the Wallabies the previous weekend in the last twenty minutes through the power of their bench that included six British and Irish Lions.

A significantly altered starting lineup from the win over the Wallabies did score the following touchdown as Genge went over following a powerful run by Lawrence, who was making his international comeback after tearing his Achilles tendon against the Italians in March.

Nonetheless, after a smart set piece was completed by Ikanivere, the coach introduced several of his bench on the 54-minute mark – including Lions players Pollock and Curry.

With the game still up for grabs, Fiji scrum-half the halfback fumbled of the ball when stretching for the tryline to negate substitute the hooker's score.

Flanker Earl, a try-scorer against the Wallabies, produced a stunning game-saving stop to maintain a narrow lead between the teams.

It capped another outstanding overall performance by the flanker, who picked up consecutive man of the match honors.

Arundell's pace to chase down a kick through demonstrated exactly why the English replacements is so influential.

It is full of top players and quality, which has helped secure victories in the final quarter that were squandered versus the Wallabies and New Zealand the previous fall.

Given the Scottish side pushed the All Blacks hard, the English team will fancy their chances of making a big statement next week.

Should they win, the substitutes 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)