And despite a stuttering opening display, England have a platform on which to build as they seek to win the Webb-Ellis trophy for the first time in 12 years.
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An expectant 80,000 crowd arrived at Twickenham looking to cheer their heroes onto a glorious victory to kickstart a march they hope will culminate in a win at the same venue on October 31.
England’s discipline was non-existent for a period and Fiji were awarded two quick penalties but Nadolo missed the first one (which was taken from almost the half way line), Volovola then stepped up and covered the second, Fiji were now within one score of the English!
England are heavy favourites to beat Fiji in Friday’s opening game of the Rugby World Cup at Twickenham, so simply putting money on the hosts to win may not be the best betting option. (Pool D) 21.00 France v Italy.
The 24-point margin flattered England who could only claim domination in the opening and closing 15-minute periods and will need to sharpen up before they play Wales next Saturday.
“We just have to move on and not play any mind games with the big fella”.
His second try, again on the left, came with seven minutes remaining and gave England the cushion it needed with the score then poised somewhat more delicately at 21-11.
And even centre and defensive-kingpin Brad Barritt and much vaunted fly-half George Ford will be anxious this week, because the team raised its whole dynamic when they were replaced by Burgess and Farrell.
‘We’re into the tournament now’
. Fiji went hard at the breakdown in the last 20 minutes, made it very difficult for us and we didn’t get the result we could have done in terms of penalties. “We got a good lead but didn’t put the nail in the coffin”, Lancaster told BBC Radio 5 live.
Ben Youngs says he is honoured to reach 50 caps for England after helping his country to a winning start to the Rugby World Cup. I thought the subs really brought an impact off the bench and added positivity to the game and we went after them and managed to finish the job.
Fiji have just five days until they face Australia but a defiant McKee said: “This pool is not decided tonight that’s for sure”. “However, it’s a banana skin out of the way so we’ll take the positives”.
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Full-back Mike Brown was the star of the show with two tries to his name that managed to at long last quell the challenge of the Fijians.
