Bully boys, but England are punching their weight
THIS was no flat-track given the vast discrepancies between England and Fiji, whether financial or in terms of resources available, and Eddie Jones’ re-shaped outfit took full advantage to bully their way to a nine tries to three victory.
This included braces for Semesa Rokoduguni, Jonathan Joseph and Joe Launchbury, with Bath’s Fijian former tank soldier punching holes in the defensive line of the men from his homeland almost every time he got the ball.
However, when Jones picks the bones out of this 11th consecutive victory on his watch – some of which was the set-piece fish-andchips English staple he asked for, and some verging on fine dining – there will be bits that he finds undercooked.
This applies especially to the sloppy defence around the last two Fijian tries either side of half-time, as the visitors rallied to make this more of a Test match than the opposed training run it had threatened to be in the first quarter.
As the England coach said afterwards, maintaining intensity for the entire duration of a match is difficult when you have scored four tries to race into an unassailable 24-0 lead so quickly.
It is an exam that only great teams pass, but if England were found wanting on occasions in defence it is hard to quibble with the quality of much of their attacking play.
While Rokoduguni gives this side a further dimension on the wing with his power, Elliot Daly – picked here on the left wing – also started to show his star quality at Test level with his pace and footwork making him the most elusive player on the pitch.
The battle between Daly and Joseph for the outsidecentre shirt against Argentina and Australia over the next fortnight intensified here, with both players showing their finishing skills and Joseph also cast-iron in defence.
Another plus for Jones was the way George Ford created time and space not only by playing flat to the line, but also through his ability to pick the right pass to exploit weaknesses in the opposition alignment.
As for the fish-and-chips up front, England scored twice from close-range driving mauls, and would have had a third had Dylan Hartley not been denied just after the interval when Mako Vunipola – who otherwise had another prodigious game in the loose – was penalised for operating as an offside blocker.
There are signs that England are at last beginning to get to grips with the art of mauling again, but they will need to be tighter and more dynamic on the drive if they are to profit in the same way against the Pumas and the Wallabies.
England mixed their game smartly in the opening exchanges, and after a Ford pass had sent Rokoduguni on a raid into the Fijian 22, drives by Mako Vunipola and Teimana Harrison did the spadework for the opening try.
As England attacked the blindside it was made by a delayed short-pass from Farrell to Joseph which duped the Fijian defence, allowing the outside-centre to score untouched.
With Farrell converting for a 7-0 lead the home side did not rest on their laurels. With Ford picking out Daly with a long pass he put his foot down, and with slight shifts of balance he turned Benito Masivelu inside-out. This led to a collision between Masilevu and covering full-back Metuisela Talebula which allowed Daly a clear run for his first England try.
Farrell’s conversion saw him become only the second England player, after Jonny Wilkinson, to score more than 500 points at Test level, and at 14-0 Fiji’s porous defence was making life easy for the men in white.
Not even the most oneeyed England fan in the 81,000 crowd could take issue with Fiji captain Akapusi Qera’s post-match observation that, “we were half asleep in the first half ”.
There was no respite, and a flowing backline move saw Ford and Daly link before Alex Goode’s scoring pass gave Rokoduguni the beating of Qera and Masilevu to take the lead to 19-0. England then took the forward cosh to Fiji, scoring midway through the half to make it 24-0 when Harrison plunged over from a line-out drive on a Launchbury catch.
Although Dan Cole was denied soon afterwards following obstruction by Harrison, when England went to the driving maul again Launchbury made no mistake after latching on to Chris Robshaw’s catch, and with Farrell adding the extras to leave Fiji 31-0 adrift on the half-hour a rout was on the cards.
Thankfully, the England procession came to an end when a five phase attack spearheaded by the indomitable Qera saw Albert Vulivuli give the 22 stone behemoth Nemani Nadolo a tilt at the line.
With the laws of physics stacked against Rokoduguni the Fijians were on the scoreboard at 31-5, and despite a Farrell penalty making it 34-5, they Pacific Islanders struck again just before the half-time whistle when their rubber-limbed lock Leone Nakarawa
squeezed past four England defenders after a drive to the line by Qera.
With England’s lead trimmed to 34-10 they were expected to come out the blocks breathing fire in the second-half after being torched by Jones.
Instead, the tackling was even more dodgy, with Farrell missing tackles on Qera and Talebula, and Hartley also making an ineffectual challenge just before the line which let the full-back in for Fiji’s third try, and respectability at 34-15.
England got back on track when Rokoduguni speared into the Fiji 22 after taking a short pass from Ford following a scrum, and crisp passing down the line ended with Mako Vunipola put Goode over.
With Farrell adding the extras, England led 41-15, and with Jones bringing all the cavalry off the bench in the final quarter Fiji faded.
A suicidal long pass by Josh Matavesi saw Joseph read it all the way for an interception try, converted by Ford, and then Rokoduguni also strolled in for his second from a 15-metre Ford scoring pass.
In between, Ben Te’o had left his calling card with dump-truck tackles on Nadolo and Vulivuli, before Launchbury finished off a move which had showcased tight-head Kyle Sinckler’s rapid acceleration.
What comes next against Argentina and Australia will be played on much more of a level pitch, and will be a better measure of what headway England have made.