Henry Arundell scorches away to help England finish off battling Fiji

Another win for England, their ninth in succession, but the word comfortable is definitely not applicable. Only in the final quarter did the home side pull away on the scoreboard and, for lengthy periods, they were made to work extremely hard for their second victory in as many weeks. They will definitely need to find another gear to see off next Saturday’s opponents New Zealand.

Equally there is no doubting the fact England are finishing games more strongly and have some rare talent lurking in reserve. This time it was their birthday boy, Henry Arundell, who shone brightest off the bench, scoring one scorching try and looking dangerous every time he touched the ball on his first appearance for England for two years.

It was also a good night to be English and hyphenated. Chandler Cunningham-South, Manny Feyi-Waboso and Luke Cowan-Dickie all had forceful games, with the latter pair claiming two of their side’s six tries. On a calm, mild evening in south-west London – not that the palm trees in Twickenham high street ever sway too wildly – Ollie Chessum was also prominently involved while Ellis Genge led purposefully from the front.

But rather like the pre-game minute’s silence, which was interspersed with a persistent automatic tannoy message blasting out of the stadium’s bowels, it was ultimately a mixed bag from an English perspective. This was a game they had earmarked as a chance for some experimentation but the physicality of a gallant Fiji side rudely interrupted some of Steve Borthwick’s best-laid plans, not least the search for his ideal backline blend.

Maro Itoje dives over to seal England’s win against Fiji. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

It has also taken New Zealand a while to figure out how best to accommodate the talents of Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie in the same team and Borthwick has clearly been pondering how to fit Marcus Smith into the mix alongside his other two fly-halves George Ford and Fin Smith.

There is little doubt Ford will get the nod at 10 against New Zealand but Marcus Smith’s determined early tackle on the bigger, stronger Kalaveti Ravouvou underlined his rivals’ desire to overturn managerial assumptions. Fiji, similarly, needed to pierce the home fans’ air of complacency, just as they had managed to do on their last visit to this stadium in August 2023.

Replicating that famous win was never going to be easy but, after an early score for a charging Cowan-Dickie, the visitors began to build some impressive momentum. First a well-engineered rolling maul produced a try for skipper Tevita Ikanivere and England then fell victim to one of those uniquely unplayable Fijian attacks that remain their hallmark.

There had already been some glorious passing before scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli chipped the English defence and was taken down without the ball by Marcus Smith. In the event Fiji did not need the advantage, Caleb Muntz gathering the bouncing ball and just reaching the line despite Ben Earl’s desperate tackle.

With a subsequent penalty by Muntz extending the visitors’ lead to 13-7 just before the half-hour mark, Fiji simply needed to keep calm and carry on. It was less than ideal, then, when winger Selestino Ravutaumada was yellow carded for clattering Feyi-Waboso in the air and England took swift advantage of their extra man when Fin Smith lobbed a cross-kick to an unmarked Feyi-Waboso who cut inside to score. Smith’s conversion restored the red rose lead and settled a few fluttering home nerves.

Ellis Genge’s 49th-minute try, rewarding a multi-phase attack, fell into the same category and extended England’s lead to 21-13. Fiji, though, stick in games for much longer these days. Six of the pack, plus all their forward replacements, play Super Rugby for the Fijian Drua and one of them, Ikanivere, plunged over for his second try after a crafty front-of-the-lineout ploy.

Only Muntz’s recurring failure to land a conversion prevented the scoreboard gap from narrowing further, while a yellow card for the formidable Josua Tuisova was another untimely blow. England were lucky, though, that a quite brilliant 50-metre team score by Fiji was ultimately ruled out for the smallest of knock-ons by a sliding Kuruvoli.

Instead it was the hosts who finished the stronger, helped by a stunning burst of pace from Arundell who surged past a startled Ravouvou to collect a Marcus Smith kick and celebrate his 23rd birthday in style. Maro Itoje applied the icing with England’s sixth try but the All Blacks will pose the ultimate autumn Test.