England power past Fiji

England scored nine tries as they hammered Fiji 58-15 at Twickenham on Saturday.

Having comfortably overcome the Springboks last weekend, England backed that up with another emphatic performance that saw them secure a 12th successive victory dating back to their final pool game of the 2015 World Cup.

Under Eddie Jones, England have now won 11 games on the trot, and it will certainly hurt South African supporters to consider that this man was once involved with Springbok rugby, and may well have had a future in the SA game if not for a lack of foresight.

Saturday’s game was effectively over as a contest after just half an hour as England roared into a 31-0 lead, with Jonathan Joseph starting the procession when he scored the first of his two tries early on.

And although Fiji did well to score three unanswered tries on either side of half-time and reduce the deficit to 34-15 early in the second half, England ultimately turned on the after-burners in the final half an hour, with Semesa Rokoduguni and Joe Launchbury wrapping up their brace of tries during this time.

After clinching this year’s Six Nations title and sealing a first Grand Slam since 2003, England then went on to secure a 3-0 series whitewash over Australia Down Under before recording wins over the Boks and now Fiji.

They will next turn their attention to Tests against Argentina and the Wallabies as they look to end the year unbeaten and extend their overall winning sequence to 14.

After that, England may well be strongly favoured to challenge the tier-one winning sequence record that the All Blacks recently extended to 18 before their loss to Ireland.

England – Tries: Jonathan Joseph (2), Elliot Daly, Semesa Rokoduguni (2), Teimana Harrison, Joe Launchbury (2), Alex Goode. Conversions: Owen Farrell (5). Penalty: Farrell.
Fiji – Tries: Nemani Nadolo, Leone Nakarawa, Metuisela Talebula.

England – 15 Alex Goode, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Teimana Harrison, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola.
Subs: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Henry Slade.

Fiji – 15 Metuisela Talebula, 14 Benito Masilevu, 13 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 12 Albert Vulivuli, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Josh Matavesi, 9 Seru Vularika, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Peceli Yato, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Api Ratuniyawara, 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Campese Ma’afu.
Subs: 16 Tuapati Talemaitoga, 17 Peni Ravai, 18 Leeroy Atalifo, 19 Nemia Soqeta, 20 Naulia Dawai, 21 Eremasi Radrodro, 22 Nikola Matawalu, 23 Kini Murimurivalu.

Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

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