Ben Youngs & Tom Youngs

By Kath
November 11 2012

England kicked off their QBE Autumn Internationals with a decisive 54-12 win over Fiji, scoring seven tries.

Match Thoughs Review

England's Charlie Sharples scores a try during the QBE International match at Twickenham Stadium - All Pictures Empics

It all looked a bit easy to be honest and with no disrespect to the Fijians intended here, to my mind it looked almost like a training game.  

This to me reflects the problems Fiji have had struggling to overcome prior to this match, particularly of player release for this tour and as a whole, it showed in the game and with outcome of the score.

As for England Charlie Sharples scored his first two tries, Ugo Monye and Tom Johnson also scored, plus a penalty try and two late scores by Manu Tuilagi with  Toby Flood kicking 17 points summed it all up. 

England's Manusamoa Tuilagi Celebrates scoring a try during the QBE International

Fiji's scrum-half Nikola Matawalu scored a try in the 54th minute and replacement Seko Kalou crossed over in the final minute, which I am sure England's defence coaches will not be pleased about.

Danny Care was sin-binned by the referee acting on the advice of a touch judge, for a dangerous tackle on Nakarawa.  However, in my humble opinion I really did not think that deserved 10mins in the bin, penalty yes but Bin?

England's Tom Youngs

Stuart Lancaster will I am sure be happy with the contribution Tom Youngs, Sharples, Johnson and man of the match fullback Alex Goode made. But as he says here:  "I'll take the positives, though there were some rusty areas we need to fix for next week," said Lancaster.  "We'll have to be far more clinical next week and the weeks after that but for a first hit out we'll take it. We're going to have to go up several gears, it's going to be tough."

England's Alex Goode - Sky Sports Man of the Match

Overall if I am being really honest, yes we scored tries and yes we won but I was a bit bored with the whole thing, the match did not seem to spark or ignite excitement for me.  I suppose they did what we asked and that was for a good performance but it was all a bit flat for me.

They will need to up their game dramatically for the next opponents Australia let alone New Zealand.   After watching South Africa against Ireland which was really dire, we may stand a good chance of a win against the Bok.

On a charitable and lighter note we saw some Movember Moustache's in particular Toby Flood - oh Toby you look like a Mexican gone wrong. Just a note for those who are not aware of this,  Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health.

And then we had some really eye catching haircuts

The back of Englands Joe Marlers head

You can tell how bored I was can't you

Getting back to the rugby, an important issue is.................. if England maintain their top four position in the IRB rankings, they will be among the top seeds when the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool Allocation Draw is made in London on 3 December.

PS: News Flash  - Having just seen the France 33 v  6 Australia score .............hey we could be in with a chance Viva La France