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Saturday cover: England just get it done in forgettable World Cup kickoff

On her first night out since the birth of her baby, the Duchess, née Kate Middleton, was in high spirits at the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup.

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With Australia and Wales also in their group, and the potential for all three big guns to beat each other, bonus points could become vital.

But Vunipola said: “It’s more a message to the team that I’m willing to do whatever to help them, whether it’s during the week and training, not sulking – taking things on the chin and moving on”.

“We are going to have to improve on that performance”, Lancaster said.

When Fiji were penalised for lifting England wing May, Ford kicked for a line-out inside the Pacific Nations Cup champions’ 22 metre line.

Fiji’s fingers appeared to be hovering over the self-destruct button as they gifted the hosts a second try by opting for a throw to the back of the line-out when only five yards from their line.

Brown made a splitting run late in the match, where Burgess received the ball after backing up in support – before the code-hopping star returned the favour with a neat offload which nearly put Brown over for his hat-trick try.

Prince Harry then stepped on the stage to officially welcome fans across the globe to the tournament, recalling some of the biggest moments of past tournaments, including South Africa’s triumph in 1995 and Wilkinson’s famous kick in 2003, which drew the loudest cheers.

A penalty try and Brown’s first had given England a 15-0 lead before giant winger Nemani Nadolo jumped above Anthony Watson to score in the corner and haul the Fijians back into the game.

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.

After 51 minutes, England freshened their pack and also brought on Richard Wigglesworth for scrum-half Ben Youngs in a bid to test Fiji’s fitness.

Without a bonus point available England would probably have shut up shop to close the game down and secure a safe win as they led 21-11 with 10 minutes to go but instead they went all out for the two tries they needed.

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Vunipola came on and completed a last minute try – with Farrell convering – to make the score look more than impressive.

This Is Wiltshire May in action against Fiji