England v Fiji, 18 September

First topic message reminder :

  
ENGLAND v FIJI
18 September 2015
KO: 20:00 BST
Twickenham, London

Live on ITV and BBC Radio 5 live

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Touch judges: John Lacey (Ireland) & Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

A. Head to Head

5 Played 5
5 Won 0
0 Drawn 0
0 Lost 5
210 Points 83

B. Recent Form

10 November 2012
England 54 - 12 Fiji
Twickenham

20 October 1999
England 45 - 24 Fiji
Twickenham

20 July 1991
Fiji 12 - 28 England
National Stadium, Suva

04 November 1989
England 58 - 23 Fiji
Twickenham

17 June 1988
Fiji 12 - 25 England
National Stadium, Suva

C. Teams

ENGLAND

Mike Brown (Harlequins); Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby); George Ford (Bath Rugby); Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Geoff Parling (Exeter Chiefs), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Chris Robshaw (capt, Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby).

Replacements: Rob Webber (Bath Rugby), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby).

FIJI

1. Campese Ma’afu
2. Sunia Koto
3. Manasa Saulo
4. Apisalome Ratuniyarawa
5. Leone Nakarawa
6. Dominiko Waqaniburotu
7. Akapusi Qera (Captain)
8. Sakiusa Masi Matadigo

9. Nikola Matawalu
10. Ben Volavola
11. Nemani Nadolo
12. Gabiriele Lovobalavu
13. Vereniki Goneva
14. Waisea Nayacalevu
15. Metuisela Talebula

16. Tuapati Talemaitoga
17. Peni Ravai
18. Isei Colati
19. Tevita Cavubati
20. Peceli Yato
21. Nemia Kenatale
22. Joshua Matavesi
23. Aseli Tikoirotuma

GeordieFalcon wrote:

nathan wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Jesus man England. This is poor.

No other "contenders " will be concerned watching this.

Where's the muscle and power!! They've swung too much to athletic....

We're only 40 minutes in to the first game of a world cup. has to be very basic

But Nathan everyone is watching this. We should be putting down a massive marker and challenge.

We're stuttering.  

and im sure there not as naive to think this is going to be our performance level through the whole cup

Davie wrote:

nathan wrote:

Davie wrote:

TJ wrote:

Davie wrote:May have been covered in the first couple of pages but I don't understand why the leg lifting wasn't penalised more in the early stages. I thought that sort of thing was top of the hit list for officials.

It wasn't terrible but seems to set a bit of a precedent

Because they made a decent attempt to put him down safely hence under the law its a pen only.  If he had been dropped it would have been yellow but he wasn't - the Fijian controlled his descent to the floor

OK I get that is the law. Comes down to personal interpretation. Personally I didn't see any attempt to put him down safely, but others clearly did.

the only peoples interpretation that matters are the refs

Thank you for pointing that out. I was clearly under the misapprehension that it was only my interpretation that counted

haha, oh on here clearly our opinions matter more than the refs

Get the four tries, get the bonus point, and then polish the rough edges. You weren't great at this stage last time you made a RWC final.

England look a bit panicked.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:England look a bit panicked.

We do, i suspect we'll start to kick too much ball away

BB is being a liability at the mo.

BTW this new level of involvement from TMO's is really messing up the flow of the game.

I know nothing about rugby but this brad barritt guy is a liability so far - is he always like this?

well if they lose here then that's the world cup done as they sure wouldn't beat Wales and Aussie, so at least fans can relax and just enjoy the rest of it.

Olly wrote:I know nothing about rugby but this brad barritt guy is a liability so far - is he always like this?

Usually he's the James Milner of the piece - solid, reliable, works hard etc.

nathan wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:

nathan wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Jesus man England. This is poor.

No other "contenders " will be concerned watching this.

Where's the muscle and power!! They've swung too much to athletic....

We're only 40 minutes in to the first game of a world cup. has to be very basic

But Nathan everyone is watching this. We should be putting down a massive marker and challenge.

We're stuttering.  

and im sure there not as naive to think this is going to be our performance level through the whole cup

Well I hope so mate, but our performances of late don't suggest we can raise it massively above this.

Apologies for sounding negative....but just frustrated by this England team at times.

so Frak messy

Lordy,
I walk away from the tv for a few minutes and what do we have? The England from the Stade de France. Not too good........

cmon fiji

Could be worse England fans. If Fiji hadn't missed a conversion and two penalties you;d be under a lot more pressure.

He came through the middle of the maul no?

Marler's angle is ridiculous before the scrums even engage.

Right, the TMO stoppages are a bit much. Anything really bad can be caught by the citing commissioner afterwards.

Shut up you irritating TMO.

Notch wrote:Right, the TMO stoppages are a bit much. Anything really bad can be caught by the citing commissioner afterwards.

Exactly.

What was the original pen against Fiji for?

I've feel the games will really suffer from the level of TMO break.

I fear a casual watching this will get quite bored.

should be a pen to england, fiji player kicked forward and their player touched in from in front

trebellbobaggins wrote:I've  feel the games will really suffer from the level of TMO break.

I fear a casual watching this will get quite bored.

i agree, cant blame the ref as he has to listen to the tmo

the ref needs to stop turning his back to everything

Did I really hear the french Anthem??

Fijis discipline is starting to go downhill

whocares wrote:Did I really hear the french Anthem??

I think there's a few neutrals in the stadium - Fiji getting a lot of support!

what a Poopie decision by the ref

Man Fiji are transformed in defence these days.

trebellbobaggins wrote:Man Fiji are transformed in defence these days.

they are, amazing how much better they are after spending 2 1/2 months together

It's Nadolo not Nandolo FFS!!!

England will do well to get out of this. bonus points will be far from their minds.

Pronounced nandolo. Learn some Fijian!

fiji just need a kicker now, they have left so many points out here

Actually I think it is pronounced Nandolo. The same way Qera is pronounced Un-Geera.

Whatever his name is, he hasn't kicked very well at goal. Otherwise England would be under huge pressure.

It's really simple - England can't make progress because they keep losing possession through poor handling, mediocre kicking, set piece frailty and lack of patience. All the basics- maybe they think this is still a warm up game. Having said that Fiji are all doing very well

clear block there, decisions seem to be evening up this half

yeah England look very poor indeed after a good start. Nothing here that looks at the level needed to get out of this group.

Fiji would be ahead if they had a decent kicker!

Fiji giving England a game here. If they kicked their penalties they would be ahead.

What do England have to do to get a yellow?

Wi11 wrote:Pronounced nandolo. Learn some Fijian!

Not offered in Scottish schools unfortunately!

Eng are so poor this half...

This is appalling from England.

getting stuffed in the rucks. Get men in there.

Barney McGrew did it wrote:It's really simple - England can't make progress because they keep losing possession through poor handling, mediocre kicking, set piece frailty and lack of patience. All the basics- maybe they think this is still a warm up game. Having said that Fiji are all doing very well

It's the breakdown thats really killing England. Fiji been able to win penalties when England have had possession and territory.

Wi11 wrote:What do England have to do to get a yellow?

lol, yeah sure.....

Notch wrote:

Barney McGrew did it wrote:It's really simple - England can't make progress because they keep losing possession through poor handling, mediocre kicking, set piece frailty and lack of patience. All the basics- maybe they think this is still a warm up game. Having said that Fiji are all doing very well

It's the breakdown thats really killing England. Fiji been able to win penalties when England have had possession and territory.

Just numbers hammering in there. England haven't had the game intelligence to react and commit more.

you can't swing it around the edge but the ref was happy with that

Fiji were awful for the first 20-30 but have been the better team since,

They would be ahead if it wasn't for some silly errors and missed kicks.