Rugby World Cup 2015: England beat a spirited Fiji to get campaign off to a winning start

Mike Brown of England evades two Fiji defenders during England’s Pool A opener against Fiji.

England saw off a spirited challenge from Fiji to kick-start the 2015 Rugby World Cup and their own campaign with a 35-11 win at Twickenham stadium. England scored four tries in the game, netting them the bonus point, to cap off a good start to the tournament for the hosts.

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. The islanders made England work extremely hard by putting in a brave defensive performance that the English found tough to crack.

It was only after Brown’s second try in the 72nd minute did they breathe a little easy after putting the result beyond doubt. Substitute Billy Vunipola added a late fourth with the last play of the match.

George Ford opened the scoring for the hosts with a penalty in the second minute and England extended their lead 10 minutes later through their first try. Fiji were put under extra pressure after their scrum-half Nikola Matawala was yellow carded for an infringement during the try.

But that didn’t deter the Fijians who kept coming at England, and once Matawala returned, he went so very close to scoring a great individual try, but failed to ground the ball properly. Fiji did have their try just a few minutes later though as Nemani Nadolo managed to pluck Ben Volavola’s crossfield kick out of the air for the score.

It was 18-8 to England at half-time and it stayed that way for 24 minutes after the restart as Fiji kept the English at bay. Volavola then managed to cut the deficit to seven with a penalty before it was pushed back up to 10 by substitute Owen Farrell.

That was that and then Brown broke the resistance finally with his try, to deliver England a good opening victory. Fiji next play Australia at Cardiff on Wednesday while England play Wales at Twickenham next Saturday.

Final Scoreline- England beat Fiji 35-11