TWICKENHAM, ENGLAND // Prince Harry said in the lavish opening ceremony at Twickenham on Friday night that there will be moments during this Rugby World Cup that will live with us for the rest of our lives.
The coaches and video analysts apart, neither England nor Fiji will want to revisit this opening Pool A exchange that was won fairly comfortably 35-11 by the hosts only through greater discipline and cooler heads.
England secured the all-important bonus point via a late Billy Vunipola try for what has been labelled as the “Pool of Death”, but in the process they may have softened up Fiji perfectly for Australia to take full advantage next week.
For the visitors, it was a hard fall from their exploits in the summer when they won the Pacific Nations Cup, and they have five days to pick themselves up off the turf before their match against the Wallabies in Cardiff on Wednesday. On this evidence, England are likely to be worked hard at their Pennyhill Park base by coach Stuart Lancaster before their showdown with Wales back here next Saturday.
The way to beat the Fijians is to suffocate them tactically. Their natural flair needs to be extinguished, their spirit constricted, and they must be made to work at every set piece. The crowd got behind England from the off when they unceremoniously drowned out the Fijian “bole” with a deafening rendition of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”.
The tactic worked. For most of the first half, Fiji looked as if they were rabbits in the floodlights at Twickenham.
Inside the first minute, Fijian flyhalf Ben Volavola dropped an easy England kick. South African referee Jaco Peyper immediately penalised Fiji for collapsing the ensuing scrum, and from in front of the posts George Ford capitalised on his opposite number’s mistake and opened the tournament scoring.
Nerves were clearly jangling on both sides, however, as Ford knocked on a wayward pass soon after.
If Fiji were on the ropes during the opening exchanges, at least they were not going to be outmuscled.
Nemani Nadolo, the Fiji wing who was his team’s best player by some distance, hit Ford like a wrecking ball that would demolish a flimsy tower block. Moments later, forwards Dominiko Waqaniburotu and Sakiusa Matadigo managed to stay on the field when they ducked out of what looked a spear tackle waiting to happen, but Peyper showed uncharacteristic restraint and kept both players on the pitch.
Then Fiji were hit with the double whammy. England set up a ruck inside the visitors’ 22 from a lineout and splintered Fiji’s defence. Five England forwards rumbled through and, with Fiji having no option but to attempt to stop the attack illegally, scrumhalf Nikola Matawalu was sent to the sin bin and the opening try of the tournament was a penalty one.
Fiji’s discipline continued to let them down. From a penalty in the 20th minute, they narrowly avoided yielding another five points when Anthony Watson could not take advantage of an overlap out wide. It mattered little.
England kept their foot on Fiji’s throat, and from the lineout quick hands from Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph set up Mike Brown to score his seventh international try.
Fiji continued to be a bag of nerves. Even when Matawalu returned from the sin bin to produce the first half’s only dazzling moment when he used acres of space off a scrum, he dropped the ball over the whitewash as he slithered to the line in an embrace with tackler Jonny May.
It was the spark Fiji needed, however, and with England momentarily ruffled the Pacific Islanders filled their sails with wind. Fiji anchored themselves in England’s 22 and Volavola lifted a beautiful up-and-under at an angle for Nadolo to outjump Watson to open Fiji’s scoring.
Ford and Nadolo then exchanged penalties, which took both sides to half time at 18-8.
Perhaps deflated by the continuous and unnecessary whistle-blowing of Peyper, the 30 men started the second half very flat. Fiji held out for the opening 10 minutes and England’s frustration grew. In the 52nd minute, England flanker Tom Wood strong-armed Leone Nakarawa to the ground with his arms around the lock’s neck.
Soon afterwards, Lancaster rung the changes in an attempt to breathe life in to the second half, but Volavola nailed his first penalty of the match to bring the score to 18-11 in the 65th minute.
Farrell extended the lead with three points in the 68th minute, and finally Fiji broke four minutes later. Pressure from Joseph and May allowed a sweeping attack to hand Brown another try and the man-of-the-match accolade, before substitutes Vunipola and Owen Farrell applied the gilt in the final minute.
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