Crucially, England scored an injury time fourth try from Billy Vunipola to earn a bonus point, given by the television match official who played a major part in the whole match.
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“The bonus point might be hugely important”.
He was seen side-by-side with former England captain Jonny Wilkinson and given a classic line that rugby fans adored. (Picture: Reuters)Twickenham was a spectacle during the opening ceremony(Picture: Getty)It featured a chorus of children and a giant rugby ball, naturally(Picture: PA)Talk about atmosphere…
A decent start by the English, the scoreline flattered them a little bit as the Fijians battled hard and were impressive in spells.
But he was terrorising England soon after…
…
Replacement flyhalf Owen Farrell immediately hit back with a three-pointer and slipped a brilliant off-load following a break by centre Jonathan Joseph through a tiring Fiji defence before Brown claimed his second try.
“We didn’t get our game plan into action”, he added.
Fiji first-five Ben Volavola landed a penalty in the 63rd minute to make it a seven point game, but from then on it was all England.
On Friday night Prince William, his wife Duchess Catherine and Prince Harry were out in full force as they attended the Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony at Twickenham Stadium in London.
“We always knew it was going to be tough”.
“Brown was excellent”, said Lancaster.
England face Wales in their next Pool A match at Twickenham on 26 September and, after his substitutions worked so effectively, Lancaster hinted at changes to the starting XV.
Burgess aside, Australia would’ve been heartened for much of the contest by a less-than-convincing display from their Pool A rivals England. “Credit to Fiji, they put us under a lot of pressure”, he said. Billy, Mako and Sam came on and did well for us, provided quicker ball and that proved the difference in the end.
And while his calls were correct, they hindered the flow of the game, sucking momentum and dampening passions.
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“Obviously it wasn’t the nicest position to be in watching them put pressure on us but I was confident the players were in control”. And I think everyone will be the same… you get that first game out of your way and of course you want to win it and win it well.
