3 hours ago
15
Key events
31 mins. From a lineout around halfway, a decent Fijian platform after a big Tagitagivalu run in midfield is ruined by Pepper getting amongst the breakdown and forcing a Kurivoli knock-on.
TRY! Fiji 3 - 21 England (Guy Pepper)
28 mins. The ball is moved one phase from the ruck for Pepper to pick and go and drive over the line under pressure from three metres out.
Two points added from the tee.
YELLOW CARD! Levani Botia (Fiji)
27 mins. Back come England up to the Fiji line, where van Poortvliet is prevented from getting the ball away by Botia diving over the ruck and slapping the ball.
A very obvious yellow card is wielded in his direction.
26 mins. The clearing kick from Fiji invites another England attack, with Atkinson finding Marcus Smith to grubber the ball forward up the left touchline. Freeman is first to it ahead of Ravouvou but again the ball is spilled forward with the line at the mercy of England. It is surely a matter of time before they score again.
23 mins. An England scrum just outside the Fiji 22 results in a free kick for the visitors and the tap is quckly taken by van Poortvliet for Atkinson to carry into the red zone. A kick is tickled through the Fiji line for Earl to chase which he fumbles forward when attempting to gather under the right post.
20 mins. We’re back. During the break there was much talk on comms of the brilliance of the veteran Botia in the back row. He rewards these notices by flying up and clattering van Poortvliet at the base of the ruck entirely illegally.
19 mins. There is a flying competition in the air for the ball, which Feyi-Waboso spills forward under pressure. Another solid Fiji scrum has them spraying the ball wide for Karawalevu to have a run into the England half. The attack moves back to the right hand side through hands before it breaks down.
That allows Ref Davidson to call the water break.
TRY! Fiji 3- 14 England (Jamie George)
15 mins. Tagitagivalu is penalised for hands in the ruck and this is compounded by Ratuva playing his oppo in the air at the resulting lineout in the 22. England send it back to touch, execute a catch and drive that they throw plenty into resulting in their captain flopping over for an easy score.
PENALTY! Fiji 3 - 7 England (Caleb Muntz)
12 mins. Fiji win a scrum penalty! I know it’s only 12 miutes in but that is already well against the run of play. Muntz wastes no time calling for the tee to get his team on the scoreboard.
9 mins. Back on the ball in the middle of the park, England are moving through some phases before van Poortvliet has a dart from the ruck. He can’t find a team-mate with his offload and the ball pinballs about before reaching Kurivoli to hack it on into the England half. A scrambling Freeman reaches it but can’t hold on, which gives Karawalevu a chance to pick and drive for the corner, but the scrambling defence boinks him into touch a couple of feet short.
TRY! Fiji 0 - 7 England (Marcus Smith)
6 mins. The Fiji scrum is in all sorts of bother already, and on the latest penalty advantage Fin Smith calls for the ball and aims a cross-kick towards Freeman on the right wing. It bounces over the winger’s head and looks to be heading to touch before it ricochets back off the corner flag for Marcus Smith to jump on it and score! An absolute novelty of a try.
Conversion added.
Officials today, by the way:
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Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
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Assistant Referee 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
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Assistant Referee 2: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
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TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
4 mins. There is no capitalising on the position by England as they flap the ball forward at the lineout. Kurivoli picks the ball from the base of a retreating scrum in his own 22, but the pressure from England forces a knock on.
A scrum for England incoming, seven metres from the Fijian line.
2 mins. A single carry before Van Poortvliet sets up the caterpillar ruck to box-kick to touch for a zero nonsense start from England. This is not the case from Fiji from the lineout as Tagitagivalu spills a simple tap off the top; presenting England a scrum that promptly results in penalty against Mawi.
Kick Off!
Caleb Muntz chips through the shimmering summer air deep into England territory.
There is some impressive choral singing and warrior expression from a delegation of Fijian singers and cultural reps pre-match.
Seeing all this in the north of England is a reminder that there is a Fijian community in Rochdale, due to recruitment of players by Rochdale Hornets RLFC in the 1960s.
“Afternoon from the gods in the Hill Dickinson stadium Lee.” emails Guy Hornsby. “As you say, it’s a royally baking day but it’s brilliant to see England playing out of the capital for the first time since the late 90s, from memory. I wish the RFU did this for England home games, too. It is surely a day that will help Fiji with conditions, and you feel England will empty the bench from 50 to mitigate that. It’ll be no easy game, and so a win is a must, but you feel some enterprise is needed to quell some of the rightful noise.”
England don’t often leave south west London, Guy, you are correct, but there have been a handful since the 1990s:
6 June 2009 – Argentina 15–37 England, Old Trafford, Manchester. Much like today this was technically an away fixture, with the match relocated to Manchester by the Argentine union for financial reasons, so England were the visiting side even though the match was played on English soil.
10 October 2015 – England 60–3 Uruguay, City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad). A Rugby World Cup 2015 pool match played in Manchester as part of that tournament’s distributed hosting.
7 August 2019 – England 37–0 Italy, St James’ Park, Newcastle. A World Cup warm-up fixture, taking the Test to Tyneside.
Speaking of the heat, the Nations Championship organisers have agreed to an extended 20-minute half-time break and additional three-minute water breaks for all players and match officials after 20 minutes of each half.
The water breaks will take place when there is a natural break in play.
Rugby is often viewed as a four-quarter game in these modern times, and it will be interesting to see how the game pans out given it’s been fully codified that way due to the weather.
It’s a glorious day in Liverpool, and by glorious I mean absolutely sodding boiling. Spare a thought for Ollie Chessum, who is not only a very ginger man but also closer to the sun than most of us.
Although, it gets cooler the more altitude you have, so he may actually be better off.
Either way, the point is that it’s like a foundry with a broken thermostat out there.
Pre match reading
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Teams
Fiji make a handful of changes to the backline that faced Wales in Cardiff, with Selestino Ravutaumada, Semi Radradra, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula and Frank Lomani making way for Vuate Karawalevu, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Caleb Muntz and Simione Kuruvoli
Borthwick has tunred to the experience of Henry Slade and the dynamism of Guy Pepper centre and openside, with Tommy Freeman shifting out to the wing to accommodate Slade. Uncapped trio George Kloska, Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Noah Caluori are on the bench.
Fiji: Salesi Rayasi; Vuate Karawalevu, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Josua Tuisova, Jiuta Wainiqolo; Caleb Muntz, Simione Kuruvoli; Eroni Mawi, Tevita Ikanivere, Mesake Doge; Tevita Ratuva, Isoa Nasilasila; Peceli Yato, Lekima Tagitagivalu, Levani Botia.
Replacements: Sam Matavesi, Livai Natave, Peni Ravai, Temo Mayanavanua, Elia Canakaivata, Pita-Gus Sowakula, Frank Lomani, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula.
England: Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Seb Atkinson, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Fin Smith, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes; Alex Coles, George Martin; Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, George Kloska, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Noah Caluori.
Preamble
Fiji and England arrive today at the (sort of) newly minted Hill Dickinson Stadium for this, the notional home fixture fir the pacific islanders vs the team actually at home. Welcome to round two of the Nations Championship.
A tale of two losses accompanies the teams’ journey to thus fixture under the blazing heat, with each seeking to set right some version of embarrassment following respective heavy defeats to Wales and South Africa.
Steve Borthwick will be the more troubled of the two coaches such was the extent of the stomping they received from the Springboks, and nothing less than a convincing stomping of their own will do today. Fiji will point to their team being something of a hotchpotch selection in Cardiff last week as the reason they were not at the their best. There are no such excuses today with more of the usual primary selections in the line-up, particularly at half-backs, plus lingering memories of the close contest in the QF of the last World Cup where they proved they are the equal of England.
England must win this one, stay with us to find out if they do.
