Nervy England see off fiery Fiji
Mike Brown scored two tries as England claimed a nervy 35-11 win over
Fiji in the World Cup opening match at Twickenham on Friday.
Billy Vunipola scored a last gasp try that gave the victory
respectability and maximum bonus points in Pool A.
England captain Chris Robshaw blamed the “emotion”of the World Cup
for the jittery start, but insisted Fiji deserved “credit”.
However, Brown’s running ensured England made the winning start they
wanted so desperately in front of a demanding 82,000 crowd who want a
repeat of their 2003 World Cup triumph.
England, playing in their change kit of red after Fiji won the toss
to wear white, went ahead when fly-half George Ford kicked a 40-metre
penalty following a collapsed scrum.
When Fiji were penalised for lifting England wing May, Ford kicked
for a line-out inside the Pacific Nations Cup champions’ 22 metre
line.They won the ball and from a rolling maul, South African referee
Jaco Peyper awarded a penalty try and also sin-binned Fiji scrum-half
Nikola Matawalu.
Ford converted, with Fiji a man down in the 14th minute.
Blindside flanker Tom Wood stole a Fiji line-out near the islanders’
line and England, making light of tricky conditions for handling rugby,
worked the ball across field from right to left. Geoff Parling, centres
Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph shifted the ball quickly to create
space for Brown,who stepped inside his man to place the ball.
It looked as if Matawalu had scored one of the great World Cup tries
but it was cancelled when replays revealed that, under pressure from
Brown, he had lost possession trying to ground the ball
Fiji, putting pressure on England’s scrum got the try they deserved
one minute later when giant wing Nemani Nadolo leaped high over opposing
England flyer Anthony Watson to grab Ben Volovola’s hanging kick.
Nadolo, Fiji’s goal-kicker, might have wished he had taken a
conversion missed by Volovola especially as a Ford penalty soon made it
18-5 to England. But Nadolo showed Volovola how it should be down by
stroking over a 40 metre penalty to cut England’s lead to 18-8 under the
Twickenham floodlights.
However, a ruck infringement gave Ford a penalty chance but his 52m
effort just fell short and England led by 10 points at the break. After
51 minutes, England freshened up their pack and also brought on Richard
Wigglesworth for scrum-half Ben Youngs in a bid to test Fiji’s fitness.
Volavola made no mistake from 30 metres out in front and England’s
lead was reduced to 18-11, setting up a potentially nervous final
15minutes for the home side.
But Fijian indiscipline gave replacement fly-half Owen Farrell a
simple penalty and England led by 21-11 to go two scores in front before
Brown, after good work by Farrell and May, made the game safe. Vunipola
came on and completed a last minute try - with Farrell converting - to
make the score look more than impressive.
- (AFP)
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