Steve Borthwick had to admit his side were outplayed yesterday as England suffered their first ever defeat to Fiji who triumphed at Twickenham 30-22.
With England’s opening World Cup match against Argentina only 13 days away, the head coach said: “There’s a lot of disappointment in that changing room and I’m sure every England supporter is disappointed as well.
“We slipped off too many tackles and it’s an area we need to be right in two weeks’ time.
“There were certain areas where there were improvements, but the defence wasn’t good enough. The power of the Fijian carries meant they scored too easily.
“It’s important to congratulate Fiji, I thought they played exceptionally well and deservedly won that game.”
Captain Courtney Lawes, on his 100th cap, added: “It’s a familiar one unfortunately. It’s not good enough. We are where we are at the minute and all we can do is push on. It’s really disappointing.
“We need to get our attack together, we’re turning over too many penalties and today we didn’t tackle well enough. Fiji are a good team now, they’ve got some phenomenal athletes and it showed today.
“They made us look silly at times but we need to improve and we’ve got two weeks to do so. We don’t want to play like this but it’s up to us to fix it. We’ll do everything we can to make sure we when we come up against Argentina that we get on the right side of the scoreboard.”
England have scored just seven tries in six games, while conceding 23. Pressure mounts on defence coach Kevin Sinfield but Borthwick said: “I absolutely do have faith in Kevin’s system. Each try conceded was a different circumstance.
“There was a period in the second quarter where Fiji handled the conditions better than we did. Having started the game very well we made too many errors which put incredible pressure on us. When Fiji get a chance they are brilliant at taking them.
“We need to get it right in two weeks’ time. We’ll be focused from this minute forward on getting ready for Argentina. We are thorough with our debriefs as coaches and players. We’re all in this together which is something we’re very clear about. Other England groups haven’t stuck together but this is a group that’s tight.”
Marcus Smith came on at full-back and provided an instant impact, suggesting he could play a role at 15 in the World Cup behind George Ford or Owen Farrell.
Borthwick said: “Henry (Arundell) was unavailable due to a back spasm and I thought Marcus came on and played well. He gave us ball on the edges and he’s a real threat. We saw that last week as well and will be considering that as an option when we reflect on the whole performance.”
Borthwick revealed Elliot Daly (knee), flanker Tom Curry (ankle) and lock George Martin (knee) are set to return from their injuries in time for England’s opening World Cup match against Argentina.
The trio’s return will provide a boost after Anthony Watson was ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury earlier this week, joining scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet, whose World Cup hopes were shattered at Twickenham two weeks ago when he picked up an ankle injury against Wales.
