Clinical England u20s dismantle Fiji

By Will Gupwell

England u20s…………………………………………48

Tries: Issacs 6, Halliwell 14, Hall 20, 37, Pollock 25, Cousins 31, 75 James 60

Conversions: Coen 6, 14, 26, 60

Yellow Card: Cuckson 52, James 80

Fiji u20s…………………………………………………..11

Tries: Naivalu 83

Conversions:

Penalties: Basiyalo 3, 35

Yellow Card: Navula, 1

Halftime score- England 36-6 Fiji

Referee- Saba Abulashvili

Attendance- 110

Star Man- Henry Pollock

In round two of the Under 20 World Championship, England secure a second victory in a row, dismantling the flying Fijians.

England captain Finn Carnduff said after the game, “We were great for the first 40 and went in at halftime and said we wanted to come out and play more of the same, but Fiji came back out on top, and we were punished at the end.”

 “Our penalty count was poor for large periods of the game, and we need to improve on it. I think today showed strength in our squad depth, and rotation is key in a tournament like this. There were some outstanding debuts today. Now, we turn our attention to South Africa.”

It was a poor start for the Fijians, with Ebenezer Navula shown a yellow card for a crocodile roll. Despite the sin bin they opened the scoring with Isikeli Basiyalo slotting a penalty.

The English responded in typical fashion with a powerful driving maul getting them over the line, with hooker James Issacs claiming the score.

Fiji tried to play wide, as is their style; however, their players were getting isolated. As a result, England were able to dominate at the breakdown, earning two early turnovers, which gave them easy field position with Ben Coen kicking them downfield.

England hit again with a strong running line from tight head James Halliwell, cutting through the Fijian defence and bumping off the fullback to finish under the sticks.

Despite the discussion of Fijian flair, the English also brought a flowing attacking style. Quick breakdown ball allowed for continuous breaks and post-contact metres.

A scrum penalty and a quick tap from Finn Carnduff meant England got the ball out fast to winger Angus Hall, who used his dancing feet stepping past four defenders to get the ball just over the line for a try on debut.

The consequent bonus point try for England was a thing of beauty. From the scrum, Toby Cousins broke the defensive line and found the offload for the early replacement Henry Pollock, who used his blistering pace and, despite being tackled, kept fighting and regathered his feet to find the try.

A mistake off the kick-off gave Fiji the opportunity for another three points. Fullback Isikeli Basiyalo just got the strike slightly wrong as he hit the upright, and the ball bounced dead.

Fiji were punished for their mistake as England broke from their own half, with Toby Cousins gathering his own chip and chase down the wing to finish for the try in the corner.

Discipline for England began to slip with the try tally going up as they conceded multiple penalties in a row. Fiji felt the only way to get points on the board was to take the safer option, and this time, Isikeli Basiyalo doubled their points tally to six.

Angus Hall got his second try of the match just before halftime as he picked off a Fijian miss pass in the wide channel and ran it in at the corner.

England made a raft of changes at half-time in order to rest players with the game surely in the bag.

Despite the scoreline, the Fijians started the second half much stronger than they finished the first, getting over the gain line more frequently; however, they still found it difficult to find that clinical edge in the final third.

England were penalised, though, for too many offside penalties even after they had been warned with Harvey Cuckson being shown yellow.

With the replacements coming on and the pitch becoming more difficult, the game became much scrappier than the first. The sides traded knock-ons and penalties, and no one got on the scoreboard for the opening twenty minutes.

Eventually, it was back-rower Kane James who got England’s seventh as he broke from the base of the scrum and fought through the would-be tacklers to get over the line.

The English scrum dominance with the replacement front row was a sight to behold in the second half, compared to the attacking flair of the first. It set up Toby Cousins’s second try of the match as England released him down the short side following another strong set piece.

Kane James was shown yellow right in the 80th minute as Fiji had an attacking opportunity, but an England turnover denied them the opportunity. The game kept going right into the death with multiple penalties conceded by England until eventually, Fiji got their first try of the game courtesy of Benjamin Naivalu; the missed conversion ended the game.

Fijian captain Nalani May was disappointed with his side’s performance at full-time, saying, “Similar to the first game, we had our plans but didn’t execute them, and that’s what let us down. It comes down to poor core skills, but that final try gives us confidence.”

England Match Stats:

Penalties Conceded- 14

Lineouts Won- 12

Lineouts Lost- 4

Scrums Won- 5

Scrums Lost- 3

England: Jones, Cousins, Waghorn, Spencer, Hall, Coen, Allan; Miell, Isaacs, Halliwell, Cuckson, Sodeke, Carnduff (c), James, Green.
Replacements: Wright, Opoku-Fordjour, Fasogbon, Kpoku, Pollock, Friday, Bellamy, Wills.

Fiji: Basiyalo, Niusalelekitoga, Valevatu, Ubitau, Lumelume, Kikau, Nawai; Tuisireli, Armstrong-Ravula, Macomber, May (c), Erenavula, Navula, Sharma, Koroiyadi.
Replacements: Vakadrigi, Legge, Nasau, Masi, Kurucake, Ledua, Tuberi, Naivalu.

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