The English Team Claims Ninth Consecutive Win Over 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

The English squad notched 4 second-half tries to defeat a physical Fiji side in their second fall test match.

The victory continues the English team's undefeated streak to nine matches and supports their win over Australia last Saturday.

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

Number ten Muntz missed both conversions but nailed a penalty to take the Fijians further ahead before Feyi-Waboso crossed.

Ellis Genge and the Fijian hooker then traded scores to begin an exciting second half.

Replacements George and Arundell, who showed his scintillating pace, touched down to take the English side into a comfortable lead.

These tries came around Fijian halfback Simi Kuruvoli dropping the ball when attempting to score.

Skipper Itoje, who also entered as a substitute, scored the final try.

The English team now play the All Blacks this coming weekend in their toughest test on paper this autumn.

Prior to this encounter, England had claimed victory in eight of their 9 games with Fiji – most recently taking a close contest in the last eight of the last global tournament.

Their sole loss came just weeks before the competition in Europe and was a significant shift under the head coach.

With the Pacific Islanders on a five-match winning run – their joint longest run since the late nineties – the fixture was always expected to be hard-fought.

After slick phase play, number eight Cunningham-South made good ground before Cowan-Dickie barged over for the first try from close range, with the Fijian's score off the back of a maul adding a quick response.

Known as the flying Fijians, that was evident in defense through monstrous first-half midfield hits, with full-back Marcus Smith, used as a additional playmaker, in particular targeted.

But it was the vintage Fijian attacking flair that was the highlight in the first forty as passes out of the tackle sliced through the English defense for Muntz to score.

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

The English team broke clear from the Wallabies last Saturday in the final quarter through the power of their replacements that contained multiple Lions tourists.

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 Ollie Lawrence, who was making his international comeback after tearing his Achilles tendon versus Italy in March.

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

With the game still in the balance, Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli fumbled of the ball when reaching for the tryline to negate substitute George's try.

Flanker Earl, a try-scorer against Australia, produced a stunning game-saving stop to keep breathing room between the teams.

It capped another all-round impressive performance by Earl, who received 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 packed with top players and talent, which has helped secure wins in the final quarter that were lost against Australia and the All Blacks the previous fall.

Given Scotland pushed the All Blacks hard, Borthwick's side will fancy their chances of making a big statement this weekend.

If successful, the substitutes will likely 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)