Don’t be too harsh, England got there in the end
Nobody can afford to get too clever with Fiji Sweet Caroline was embraced with enthusiasm
PRAGMATISTS the world over will recognise the significance of this one. Solid, but not spectacular. Efficient, but not slick. England got the job done, got the win and got the bonus point with the last play of the game through Billy Vunipola, a substitute.
Stuart Lancaster used every last one of his replacements, all eight, and the fresh legs paid off with two late tries. He would have bought that package at the start, every nuance of it.
He has given 23 members of his squad a winning taste of the World Cup, at Twickenham. It was a good night’s work.
England were in control from early on, but for a long spell did not capitalise on that advantage. As the game wore on, the statement England had hoped to make on the opening night of this tournament became less of a shout, more a whisper.
England held a 10-point lead at half-time, and having not surrendered a double-figure advantage at the midway stage since playing Wales in 2008, victory was seemingly assured. Yet the manner of that win — emphatic or panting over the line with relief — was still uncertain, and it was only in the final 10 minutes, indeed the very last minute, that England delivered.
Mike Brown scored his second try of the night after 71 minutes and Vunipola got over the line after another eternity of a TMO deliberation. If last night’s video inspections set the standard for the tournament, we are in for some long nights.
They took an age and arguably broke England’s flow in the first half. Eventually it was decided Vunipola had got the ball down and England recorded their bonus-point try. The scoreline looked emphatic but that wasn’t the entire story.
England were 15 points clear after 22 minutes, and that was the spell in which the game was won. The expansive rugby many thought would follow failed to materialise.
In one respect it was easy to understand. Fiji want their opponents to play a freewheeling game. It suits their style, plays to their strengths. England, instead, kept Fiji at arm’s length, took the win and will regroup for the visit of Wales a week today.
Nobody can afford to get too clever with Fiji until victory is utterly assured. And as it wasn’t until Brown touched down with nine minutes remaining, there really wasn’t time for England to show off.
So, the Twickenham crowd had to settle for other qualities. Efficiency, the beginning of momentum, a tricky hurdle overcome.
What is certain is that the nerves that afflicted this team on occasions will not decrease. This will never stop being a home World Cup, never stop being a tournament in which expectations are high. That thought seemed to hit Lancaster’s men at vital moments — but he will take the win, and this baby step. Most certainly, it could have been worse.
In the minds of rugby virgins at home, this result will be largely underrated. A big win over Fiji would have been pretty much expected by laymen and the first sight of the Pacific Islanders suggested the teams were poorly matched.
Fly-half Ben Volavola fumbled the ball inside a minute, a penalty was awarded for collapsing the resulting scrum, and George Ford sent it sweetly through the posts to give England a 3-0 lead. Business as usual then. Yet that isn’t the half of it against Fiji. They might not have much of a reputation in the sport we hold most dear, but in rugby they are a threat.
Those expecting England to sweep them aside at HQ have not been paying attention. Nemani Nadolo is an exceptional player, a winger with extreme pace and massive power. Campese Ma’afu causes havoc in the scrum. Fiji are no mugs.
Thankfully, neither are Lancaster’s England, so credit to them for doing the job with relative efficiency.
This was a tidy performance on a night when a lot could have gone wrong and the result, if not the margin, was hardly in doubt once Ford’s early penalty had been supplemented by two tries.
It was at that point, when Twickenham was beginning to imagine this opener could go better than imagined, that Fiji chose to remind the hosts they were capable of causing sudden trauma. This is, after all, a team on a run of 28 consecutive try- scoring games, the longest stretch in international rugby, and they did not disappoint.
No sooner had scrum-half Nikola Matawalu been denied a try, having dropped the ball on the line rather than grounded it in the scramble at the end of a lung-busting run, than Fiji got points on the board.
A fabulous aerial take by Nadolo needed the now standard lengthy TMO ruling, but justice was done when South African referee Jaco Peyper gave it in Fiji’s favour.
He is some item, Nadolo, a 20st wing with the gas of a Lamborghini. He summed up the threat all of England’s Pool A rivals must face.
Wales and Australia will not relish going up against him, having witnessed moments of occasional, explosive brilliance. Add to that the nerves induced by a fixture list that affords no room for error and it is easy to see why England’s group is considered exceptional by the standards of the tournament.
In some ways, then, Fiji proved the perfect first opponents — strong enough to necessitate a serious work-out, not so strong that England were in danger of starting with a defeat.
Yet in others they were a headache. Lancaster needed to play his gun team last night; the same players that will be needed against Wales and then Australia. It will be the second week in October before Lancaster can grant his first XV a rest. Win against Wales, though, and the power of home advantage can be usefully harnessed.
Lancaster asked for a response from the home crowd and it came. Indeed, it is hard to remember the national anthem being sung louder at Twickenham, and even a pre-match rendition of Sweet Caroline was embraced from all corners with enthusiasm, if not melody.
The locals may not be able to carry a tune like the Welsh, but what they lack in pitch perfection they make up for in heart. And, for now, at least they have plenty to shout about.
They will know, experts and freshers alike however, that far more substantial tests lie ahead.