England Earns Ninth Consecutive Victory Against 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

England scored 4 tries after halftime to beat a tough Fiji side in their second autumn international.

This win continues the English team's undefeated streak to nine games and supports their triumph over the Wallabies last Saturday.

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

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

Ellis Genge and Ikanivere then exchanged tries to begin an thrilling second half.

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

These tries came either side of Fijian halfback Kuruvoli fumbling the ball when attempting to score.

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

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

Prior to this meeting, England had claimed victory in eight of their nine matches with Fiji – most lately winning 30-24 in the last eight of the last global tournament.

That one defeat came two months prior the competition in Europe and was a significant shift under the head coach.

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

After smooth attacking phases, number eight Cunningham-South made good ground before the hooker barged over for the opening score from short distance, with Ikanivere's try off the back of a driving maul adding a quick response.

Known as the Flying Fijians, that was evident in defense through monstrous opening period tackles in the center, with full-back Smith, deployed as a additional playmaker, in particular picked out.

But it was the classic attacking Fijian flare that was the highlight in the opening half as passes out of the tackle sliced through the English defense for the fly-half to touch down.

Feyi-Waboso expertly collected a kick across the field by Smith to take the hosts ahead after he had been dangerously taken out in the air by Ravutaumada, who was given a yellow card following a video review.

England pulled away from the Wallabies last Saturday in the final quarter through the impact of their bench that contained multiple British and Irish Lions.

A much-changed starting lineup from the victory over the Wallabies did grab the following touchdown as Genge went over following a powerful run by Lawrence, who was making his international comeback after suffering his Achilles against Italy in March.

However, after a clever line-out move was finished by Ikanivere, Borthwick unloaded five of his bench on the 54th minute – including Lions players Henry Pollock and Tom Curry.

With the game still up for grabs, Fijian number nine the halfback fumbled of the ball when stretching for the goal line to negate substitute George's try.

Breakdown specialist Earl, who scored against the Wallabies, produced a stunning game-saving stop to keep breathing room between the sides.

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

Arundell's pace to chase down a kick through demonstrated exactly why England's bench is so impactful.

It is full of top players and talent, which has aided in victories in the final quarter that were squandered versus Australia and the All Blacks the previous fall.

Considering the Scottish side ran New Zealand close, the English team will feel confident of making a big statement next week.

If successful, 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)