England needed a response after their chastening 45-21 opening defeat to South Africa, and they produced an emphatic one in Liverpool. In the first men's rugby Test staged at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium, Steve Borthwick's side crossed for 11 tries to overwhelm a Fiji outfit reduced to 14 men, winning 73-8.
Flanker Henry Pollock was the headline act, completing a hat-trick with scores at 55, 68 and 80 minutes to press his case for a regular starting role. Marcus Smith had opened the scoring inside six minutes, helped by a kind ricochet off the corner flag, before Jamie George rumbled over from a rolling maul and further tries from Guy Pepper and debutant Benhard Janse van Rensburg — who crossed just 218 seconds after coming off the bench — put the hosts firmly in charge.
The contest tilted decisively on a first-half red card. Fiji scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli was dismissed for kicking out at Ellis Genge, a call that irked the Fijians given Genge had been holding the No.9's legs without sanction. A man down, Fiji managed only a single reply, hooker Tevita Ikanivere burrowing over on 48 minutes.
England simply pulled away after the break. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Henry Slade and 19-year-old debutant Noah Caluori all crossed alongside Pollock's treble as the margin ballooned past 70 points.
Former England scrum-half Danny Care, working as a pundit for ITV, was thoroughly impressed. "England have put on a clinic today on how to win a Test match against a really dangerous opposition," he said.
The one blemish on the afternoon was an injury to first-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell. Borthwick was guarded when pressed on the diagnosis. "I don't know at this stage whether it's a recurrence," the head coach said, "nor can I confirm the length at this early stage."
The scoreline flattered England against 14 men, and Borthwick will know that Fiji's early red card removed much of the jeopardy. But after the bruising loss to the Springboks, the manner of the bounce-back — a debutant try inside four minutes of arriving, a 19-year-old finishing on debut, and a back-rower in Pollock making an increasingly loud selection argument — gave the head coach plenty to like as England's northern push through Liverpool paid off in points.
