England were made sweat by Fiji last night, as they struggled to secure a bonus point victory.
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England captain Chris Robshaw blamed the “emotion” of the World Cup for the jittery start, but insisted Fiji deserved “credit”.
England spread the ball wide through the hands to leave full-back Mike Brown with the relatively simple task of going over near the opposite corner.
Speaking at a golf event put on by major All Blacks sponsor AIG, Smith said the tournament opener resembled that of previous events and he backed England to improve as the weeks progress. It’s my first World Cup.
“Normally, we deal with a variety of matters (with diplomats from other countries) in negotiations and it’s important that we can also get together to talk about a different topic”.
Referee Jaco Peyper had to go to the TMO after Vunipola barged his way over but he was given the all clear and England had what they were looking for.
Ford converted, with Fiji a man down in the 14th minute.
The English scored their fourth try after the 80th minute.
The outing will be Wood’s second taste of World Cup action after making one start in England’s 2011 campaign when he lined up against Georgia.
The final scoreline might look convincing, but it needs to be remembered that ten of their points came in the opening 12 minutes, and 14 of them in the final ten. Matawalu, back on the field after 10-minutes in the sin bin, broke off the back of a scrum from 30 metres out and sprinted down the right touchline.
The respite was temporary though as Nemani Nadolo scored moments later, when the giant wing clung on to Ben Volavola’s crossfield kick.
England kicked the first penalty from the boot of George Ford. They missed three penalties while trailing 18-11.
Gatland recently rattled England’s cage by suggesting they don’t know their strongest line-up and can not settle on a playing style.
This has started in the run-up to their next Pool A game against Australia on Thursday at 3:45am (Fiji time). Those promising signs were few and far between and the overall performance from England was often very sloppy in possession.
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Brown crossed for his second in the corner after great offload work from substitute Owen Farrell and Jonny May before Billy Vunipola forced the ball just onto the edge of the whitewash from close range. Lucky to get the bonus point win.
