England v Fiji, 18 September

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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

Nice work Pyper missing a knock on in the lead up to the BP try, he didn't have much else to do..

monty junior wrote:Nice work Pyper missing a knock on in the lead up to the BP try, he didn't have much else to do..

No clearly not.... It wasn't like there were 79 other minutes of the match

I thought overall it was a bit of a dire game. Fiji kicked poorly in play and missed those points badly. England were a bit of a mess I was very surprised to see them matched / beaten in the scrum and ruck so often given how poor Fiji usually are in that part of the game. While the TMO and ref were a bit slow and broke up the game I thought mostly the decisions were right. Not much of an advertisement for rugby imo but its done and time to move on.

I thought Fiji looked well organised and executed a game plan to spoil the party atmos rather well. Too many of you aren't giving Fiji the credit they deserve.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I thought Tom wood had a good game - he made the hard yards when not many other players were standing up to be counted.

Tom Wood should have had ten minutes in the bin. The TMO pointed out that he'd thrown a Fijian to the floor by the neck, and reiterated to Jaco Peyper that it was around the neck, which they're supposed to be cracking down on, but Peyper couldn't bring himself to show a yellow. No question a Fijian would have seen yellow for that.

England should be happy that they got a bonus-point win, but they'll be concerned with how their scrum went (even without Marler getting penalised for boring in) and how often they were turned over.

As for Fiji, I'm not looking forward to our game against them!

To be fair stuff like that seems to be done on results and I do remember the Ref saying something along the lines of matching what had happened earlier. E.g. no card for the Fijian almost spear tackle (right result as they had put May down gently, sort of) so no card for the throw which in this case was stupid but not particularly dangerous

Q. For nikos disallowed try was the TMP only brought in because of the big screen and the ref seeing it? If so (and anyway regardless) I really think the ref shouldn't be allowed to make decisions based on that as it can provide clear home advantage. I know similar things have happened in the past but can't remember the specifics

That said he should have checked anyway as he was 10 yards behind (wouldn't anyone be) and couldnt see the ball when it was scored!

Ps well done England - job done. As a scot I would love to see eng ire semi. 7/10 for entertainment that game so not bad if a bit sloppy.

Should be standard protocol if the ref doesn't see grounding to check grounding.

Ref and linesman were 20 metres away... not surprising given it was a 50metre foot race with 2 players who have sub 11 100metre times.

Would have been the try of the world cup had it been scored. Would have eaten for free in Fiji for life had he scored it.

A few thoughts from last night’s game

Some are downplaying England’s threat in the group when really they should be worrying more about the Fijian threat. England really did get surprised by the size, running and breakdown skills of Fiji. Perhaps SL hadn’t watched them play.

There’s every chance of SL’s vision of England being a hybrid of RL and the ABs coming back to bite him. This is RU Stewie, with scrums and LOs and breakdowns and other messy stuff. Plus the English players just don’t yet have the handling and tactical skills of the ABs.

Jonny made a good point after the game - what exactly was the English game-plan last night? Looked like it was to avoid injuries.

As for Cole, I think he should have been put on the same ‘thanks for the memories’ bus ride home that Corbs was on. And let's contrive to get Hartley back in.

But who’d have thought we’d have such a great back 3.

Anyways, we’ll still go through. Just not all the way.

Ineffable wrote:Q. For nikos disallowed try was the TMP only brought in because of the big screen and the ref seeing it? If so (and anyway regardless) I really think the ref shouldn't  be allowed to make decisions based on that as it can provide clear home advantage. I know similar things have happened in the past but can't remember the specifics

That said he should have checked anyway as he was 10 yards behind (wouldn't anyone be) and couldnt see the ball when it was scored!

Ps well done England - job done. As a scot I would love to see eng ire semi. 7/10 for entertainment that game so not bad if a bit sloppy.

I think there needs to be an impartial fourth official in charge of the big screen replays...otherwise it puts the ref in a bit of a tight spot for them to show that clip (and would they have shown it if it was an England player losing the ball) after the try had been awarded. For those criticising the ref for not asking for a replay in the first place: none of the England players, who were right there making the tackle, made any fuss or made any queries about the try being given - they didn't even notice it!

Barney McGrew did it wrote:A few thoughts from last night’s game

Some are downplaying England’s threat in the group when really they should be worrying more about the Fijian threat. England really did get surprised by the size, running and breakdown skills of Fiji. Perhaps SL hadn’t watched them play.

There’s every chance of SL’s vision of England being a hybrid of RL and the ABs coming back to bite him. This is RU Stewie, with scrums and LOs and breakdowns and other messy stuff. Plus the English players just don’t yet have the handling and tactical skills of the ABs.

Jonny made a good point after the game - what exactly was the English game-plan last night? Looked like it was to avoid injuries.

As for Cole, I think he should have been put on the same ‘thanks for the memories’ bus ride home that Corbs was on. And let's contrive to get Hartley back in.

But who’d have thought we’d have such a great back 3.

Anyways, we’ll still go through. Just not all the way.

I'm not sure why you say England were surprised by Fiji. Fiji are very strong at certain aspects of the game, and just because you know they've got, say, possibly the strongest runner in world rugby doesn't mean you can always stop him gaining a few metres.

I'm generally surprised that people are drawing conclusions about England's prospects based on the opening game of the WC. There would have been massive nerves, and the ball was slippery. I thought the line out was ok, and apart from a couple of poor scrums even that aspect wasn't that bad.

I'm happy enough with that even though Fiji made England sweat at times and made the England scrum look dodgy too regularly.. There was great impact from the bench which bodes well for the rest of the campaign. No injuries and 5 points in the bag - they did what needed doing.

Think 5 points is v good result for Eng. They didn't play that well and hot job done.
Don't think Fiji played well either, kicking at goal and in play was awful. Handling very poor and didn't really get much going in attack. That being said their breakdown and defensive organisation looked good and set piece OK.
Wish we (Wales) played them last night, I'm assuming that their handling and all round attack is only going to improve. Last night they made to many mistakes to trouble a decent side but they sure look like got potential.
Well done England, similar to Fiji I expect them only to improve.

Billy V has come out saying he didn't know a 4th try meant a BP - that is staggering to hear given how big a deal BPs are in this world cup!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Billy V has come out saying he didn't know a 4th try meant a BP - that is staggering to hear given how big a deal BPs are in this world cup!

He's a forward. It's not his job to get involved in the 'science'

I just saw that Biily V comment too. WTF?! Not sure if this reflects badly on SL (had he not drilled it into his players?) or BV (was he messing around passing notes at the back of the class that day?). Either way, they got a BP and so a fine job done for England.

Officiating was pretty awful and seemed very much in the hosts favour (almost to sinister commie/Big Brother proportions at times). It was a lot closer than the score suggests, and if Fiji had had a few decisions go there way and landed their kicks, they certainly could have sneaked it. As others have suggested, I don't think it was that England were poor - I just think Fiji are rather good this year. Wales especially need to treat the Fiji game with as much care as Aus/Eng if they are to get out of the group.

... and I think Wales may struggle to get a BP against Fiji. That Billy V try could well prove decisive in the group!

MarcusHalberstram wrote:... and I think Wales may struggle to get a BP against Fiji. That Billy V try could well prove decisive in the group!

you could be wright about that. But i have said it before (no team) should be taken for granted in this RWC. If Fiji had a better goal kicker than what they had it could well been a different score line all together.

I didn't like the officiating very much but don't think it particularly favoured one team over another. The ref gave penalties rather than cards on a couple of occasions- one for each team. I can't understand what goes on on the ground and always scream at the ref as it seems like he is favouring the opposition to me!

England got exactly what they needed from the game - 5 points. The manner of the victory will be forgotten by the time the next game rolls around and they should get better. Main points:

- Back 3 looked really good
- For all his inexperience on last night's performance I think Burgess probably needs to come in to start ahead of Barrit. Het added the missing go forward when he came on.
- Scrum for England is down to the ref. If Marler is allowed to scrum on the angle England destroy other scrums, if he is forced to scrum straight they look second best. Big worry is that Wales and Oz are in the ref's ear both before the match and during telling them Marler is boring please penalise.
- Much as i am not a particular fan of his, think England badly miss Hartley. For all Youngs great work in the loose, Harltey adds consistency and confidence at lineout and is better at scrum time.

Re. the officiating.

The ref wasn't favouring England (he missed decisions for both sides - as normally happens). There were plenty of occasions where I thought England were badly done to and I guess Fijian fans and 'neutral'  supporters from other countries would think the opposite.

Peyper is quite an annoying ref and doesn't seem particularly confident in his own decisions but he was fair to both sides and relatively consistent. It's not his fault the new TMO rulings have been brought in but I think if refs are seeing the same footage as the TMO there is no real need to ask their opinion.

Reading comments further above about Brown. He might be self-styled 'Mr Angry' but I don't understand why some opposition fans don't like him. Bar one incident where he was slightly mocking when scoring against Scotland (no worse than what North did for the Lions) he's just a determined, honest professional. He doesn't have a nasty edge to him like, for example, Liam Williams or Stuart Hogg. He's a real focus point for England and exactly what we need. If all the players had his dedication. verve and consistency it would be a great thing.

Cyril wrote:

Peyper is quite an annoying ref and doesn't seem particularly confident in his own decisions but he was fair to both sides and relatively consistent. It's not his fault the new TMO rulings have been brought in but I think if refs are seeing the same footage as the TMO there is no real need to ask their opinion.

Don't agree it was Peyper's fault - it is down to confidence though. e.g. Nigel Owens takes what he needs as quickly as possible from TMO engagement and has the confidence to get on with it. Peyper let the TMO manage the decision making rather than the other way around.

Barney McGrew did it wrote:A few thoughts from last night’s game

Some are downplaying England’s threat in the group when really they should be worrying more about the Fijian threat. England really did get surprised by the size, running and breakdown skills of Fiji. Perhaps SL hadn’t watched them play.

There’s every chance of SL’s vision of England being a hybrid of RL and the ABs coming back to bite him. This is RU Stewie, with scrums and LOs and breakdowns and other messy stuff. Plus the English players just don’t yet have the handling and tactical skills of the ABs.

Jonny made a good point after the game - what exactly was the English game-plan last night? Looked like it was to avoid injuries.

As for Cole, I think he should have been put on the same ‘thanks for the memories’ bus ride home that Corbs was on. And let's contrive to get Hartley back in.

But who’d have thought we’d have such a great back 3.

Anyways, we’ll still go through. Just not all the way.

Our set piece now looks as weak as I can remember and the worst it has under Lancaster and Rowntree. Just at the start of a WC. As does our lineout. And our breakdown work has perpetually gone backwards under them. We've never got consistency under Lancaster.

I thought this when they appointed him and I still think it now - we won't win with Lancaster. Maybe we wouldn't with anyone else but I feel the potential of this team is not being met, in stark contrast to Schmidt's work with Ireland

Nervy performance from England which is kind of expected. Fiji were a lot better then I think most expected and went in to the game looking to rattle the English which worked.

England also looked like they had the wrong tactics a lot of the time, going wide too often without go forward (which they did in the warm ups too) and then kicking too often and poorly at the start of the second half (which they did in the warm ups).

Difficult to really pick out any players as it was a poor team performance over all. Tactics need to be worked on and we could use a second play maker in the backs.

Did May get MoM over Brown? Or was he just getting interviewed...

Hood83 wrote:

Barney McGrew did it wrote:A few thoughts from last night’s game

Some are downplaying England’s threat in the group when really they should be worrying more about the Fijian threat. England really did get surprised by the size, running and breakdown skills of Fiji. Perhaps SL hadn’t watched them play.

There’s every chance of SL’s vision of England being a hybrid of RL and the ABs coming back to bite him. This is RU Stewie, with scrums and LOs and breakdowns and other messy stuff. Plus the English players just don’t yet have the handling and tactical skills of the ABs.

Jonny made a good point after the game - what exactly was the English game-plan last night? Looked like it was to avoid injuries.

As for Cole, I think he should have been put on the same ‘thanks for the memories’ bus ride home that Corbs was on. And let's contrive to get Hartley back in.

But who’d have thought we’d have such a great back 3.

Anyways, we’ll still go through. Just not all the way.

Our set piece now looks as weak as I can remember and the worst it has under Lancaster and Rowntree. Just at the start of a WC. As does our lineout. And our breakdown work has perpetually gone backwards under them. We've never got consistency under Lancaster.

I thought this when they appointed him and I still think it now - we won't win with Lancaster. Maybe we wouldn't with anyone else but I feel the potential of this team is not being met, in stark contrast to Schmidt's work with Ireland

Should also say I think it's a tournament too early for a number of players like Ford, Watson etc.

Oh, and as ever, Ben Youngs was carp. Not helped by the pack but every pass is a foot or so too high. Dreadful.

yappysnap wrote:Did May get MoM over Brown? Or was he just getting interviewed...

No, Brown was Man of the Match. I know because I wasn't sure which to put in my ESPN team and went with May.

Having had the night to think things through and clear away the foggy head, my two pence worth is as follows:

Fiji are no mugs, they were under estimated and have the potential to cause an upset in this pool.

Tom Youngs, great match in the loose, but still flaky in the lineout and has an over reliance of Parling. Very few throws to the back which restricts quick attacks from the tap down. The front row has got something wrong with it, I don't know what, but something is not right. Whenever the replacements come on things solidify, especially Brookes. I do not know who is at fault, but replacing the front row as a whole is not going to ell you where the weak link is.

Parling had a good game for him, solid in the lineout and good in attack and defence close to the breakdown. However when Launchbury came on, there was a massive improvement in both the scrum and the cover tackling, without loosing anything in the lineout or close to the breakdown. Not sure if that would be the case with Youngs throwing though.

Woods was exceptional, back to his old self.

Morgan was technically good, but where is the rampaging Morgan of old, he seams to be trying to copy BV,s game. The work needs to be done there, but there is still room for the old fashioned corner flagging Morgan, picking up kicks from deep and running the ball back at pace, that's what made his name.

BV was, well BV enough said.

Robshaw put himself about, but we need more of the "pick and go" that we only started in the last 10 minutes.

Youngs (B) needs to go away and sort his passing out, it was terrible, slow and either low or high, he took all the pace off England's game and allowed the Fijians to get up into the faces of the English backs.

Ford, stood up well to the battering Fiji threw at him, never a backward step. Pity his kicking from hand and game management were not up to the standard of his courage.

Barritt, was anonymous (apart from giving away penalties), tackled well but that was all.

Joseph was given little chance, he was getting man and ball, fell off a couple of tackles but did little else wrong

May was good, has this annoying tendency to jump past tackles, he is going to get pinged for it one day. Got skinned for the nearly try, but still managed to turn and get a tackle in which resulted in the dropped ball.

Watson, needs to be 6" taller and 6 stone heavier to stop a try like the Fijians one, overall had a good solid game.

Brown; the bulldog spirt personified. Simply a class act and one of the few Englishmen that would be close to a World XV place.

For Wales, I would make three changes, Webber or George for Tom Youngs. I cannot get around my opinion that he weakens the front row, too short and he relies too much on Parling in the lineout.

Brookes for Cole. Cole just doesn't look up to it at the moment.

Launchbury for Parling. Launchbury's better all round play and savvy at the breakdown more than make up for his perceived weakness in the lineout. George or Webber can usually hit anyone anywhere.

The other change I would consider is at 9, if BY cannot get his passing and game management back together quickly, we need to replace him.

Last point, I now remember why I do nor watch ITV, I hate adverts. I even wait until the Sky shows are on Catch Up, of box sets before watching them.

Oh, and can someone lock Inverdale in a secure cupboard somewhere and throw away the key

well-past-it

Whilst i dont disagree with all those points, if you want to change players every time they do something wrong we'll have a different starting 15 each game and then you'll be moaning that Lancaster doesn't know what he's doing and isn't allowing the team to build experience.

Launchbury looked class when he came on. Lovely seeing him smashing Nadolo over the sidelines. Took a line out ball early on too

lostinwales wrote:Launchbury looked class when he came on. Lovely seeing him smashing Nadolo over the sidelines. Took a line out ball early on too

yeah he does, but the trouble is if he has a good game, then a poor one everyone will be calling for him to be dropped. Fans on here always look at a quick fix solution when unfortunately sometimes there isn't one and you just make the situation worse.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Billy V has come out saying he didn't know a 4th try meant a BP - that is staggering to hear given how big a deal BPs are in this world cup!

What?!

nathan wrote:well-past-it

Whilst i dont disagree with all those points, if you want to change players every time they do something wrong we'll have a different starting 15 each game and then you'll be moaning that Lancaster doesn't know what he's doing and isn't allowing the team to build experience.

Nathan

If it was just one game, I wouldn't be looking for Change, But Cole has not look right since his injury, Launchbury is only out of the starting XV due to his injury, he would have always been a starter otherwise and Tom Youngs has always been dodgy at the lineout unless playing with Leicester players and has been perceived as a weak link in the scrum for a long time as well. The scrum was always much more solid with Hartley playing, it got weaker when TY came on. He does have the best open play game of them all though.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:

nathan wrote:well-past-it

Whilst i dont disagree with all those points, if you want to change players every time they do something wrong we'll have a different starting 15 each game and then you'll be moaning that Lancaster doesn't know what he's doing and isn't allowing the team to build experience.

Nathan

If it was just one game, I wouldn't be looking for Change, But Cole has not look right since his injury, Launchbury is only out of the starting XV due to his injury, he would have always been a starter otherwise and Tom Youngs has always been dodgy at the lineout unless playing with Leicester players and has been perceived as a weak link in the scrum for a long time as well. The scrum was always much more solid with Hartley playing, it got weaker when TY came on. He does have the best open play game of them all though.

I agree about Cole but I would like to see him beside a better scrummaging hooker; probably George. He would also be helped by bringing in Launchbury to replace Parling.

Whilst I do not want to see anyone injured if it does happen Hartley should be on Lancasters speed dial.

Cole and Marler both seem to be struggling, Cole has been a bit tepid since about 2012 to be honest, he really seems to give nothing at Int level except his scrummaging. What happened to the turn over machine of old?

And on that note, I think we need to address the breakdown pronto. Oz and Wales are both going to be playing two breakdown specialists in their backrows and given that we came out second best by a mile in that area to Fiji, I don't see it going well against some of the top teams.

I think George needs to come in for Youngs, we'll lose something in the loose but lineout and scrum stability will more than make up for that, not considering Hartley is and always was ill advised.

Marler's driving angle in the scrum was all wrong, and he didn't look bothered about it.

THe balance of the pack is still wrong for me.

But you have to question the coaches...what is the tactics.
Even despite the pack imbalance (in my opinion) when they kept it tight they look useful. Yet they fail to keep it like that and it just becomes undisciplined and messy.

Wheres the leadership to drag them back on to the gameplan??

Also Fords game management is worrying. Look at last night in comparison to Sextons masterful performance today.

I appreciate different ages and experiences etc...but this is what Ford needs to learn.

Lancaster keeps saying this WC is to early...but look what Schmidt has done to Ireland in a couple of seasons.

Last nights match was one of the worst cases of Nervous Ref Syndrome I have ever seen. In the first 40, all the focus was on Fiji while England got away with loads. Half time talk... Second half, the microscope was on England with Fiji having a seemingly camera black out.

Hope it was only first night nerves and not a precedent to the rest of the tournament

Yeah, he was nervous and the issue is on the big occasion the TMO becomes a crutch for a nervous ref and its very frustrating to watch.

You can't catch everything and if we're going to try it'll take an hour for every half.

If this is what its like now when we win a game I think I'll keep well clear of this site when we eventually lose one

If we keep playing like that its only a matter of time LIW...

At least we aren't South African :/

Yeah that's true CJ....

wow. this RWC already booked its place as the best ever. Japan beating SA. Who knew theirs was potentially the group of death? amazing.

Then when Fiji beat Wales or Australia aswell.....

So happy we got a bonus point win vs Fiji now, these minnows won't roll over anymore.

Steve Borthwick is Japans forwards coach.

I thought Borthwick had retired from any form of Rugby.

But well done to him and the Japan team.

GeordieFalcon wrote:THe balance of the pack is still wrong for me.

But you have to question the coaches...what is the tactics.
Even despite the pack imbalance (in my opinion) when they kept it tight they look useful. Yet they fail to keep it like that and it just becomes undisciplined and messy.

Wheres the leadership to drag them back on to the gameplan??

Also Fords game management is worrying. Look at last night in comparison to Sextons masterful performance today.

I appreciate different ages and experiences etc...but this is what Ford needs to learn.

Lancaster keeps saying this WC is to early...but look what Schmidt has done to Ireland in a couple of seasons.

I think Ford was suffering at times from the turnovers at key points, its very hard to get into the groove when as a side you give away cheap turnover ball, whether that be in open play or at a key set piece.

The balance in the starting pack is wrong for me but the balance in the back 5 looked a lot better once Launchbury and Vunipola came on to straighten things up. It seems the England management are content to sacrifice overall balance of the pack, particularly at set piece, just to shoehorn in Youngs at Hooker. Yes he offers a lot around the park, but I would say Launchbury offers more so why are we sacrificing him so Youngs can have Parling as a safety blanket. Webber look okay off the bench and the set piece looked better, nice to see some lineouts taken at the rear for a change. George looked good against France and Ireland. Start one, bench the other, start Launchbury and Vunipola and the balance looks a lot better. Still massive impact from the forwards on the bench.

majesticimperialman wrote:I thought Borthwick had retired from any form of Rugby.

But well done to him and the Japan team.

Oh dear.