England vs. Fiji: Preview, Live Stream and TV Info for Rugby World Cup 2015 Game
Sep 16, 2015
PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 22: Chris Robshaw, the England captain, sings the anthem during the International match between France and England at Stade de France on August 22, 2015 in Paris, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
The talking is nearly over.
England will finally get their World Cup campaign started under the Friday night lights of Twickenham when they take on Fiji.
Contests between these two at England’s HQ would usually struggle to fill the 82,000-seater arena to the gills, but there will not be a spare seat in the house for this one.
England go in to the match knowing it’s a must-win before they take on Wales and Australia in the matches that will likely shape this pool, but the Fijians have danger men throughout the side capable of upsetting their hosts.
Just ask Wales, who came a cropper against the Islanders in their 2007 pool after trying to beat the Fijians at their own game.
History weighs heavily in favour of the Red Rose brigade. England have played Fiji on five occasions and won them all, per espn.co.uk. The most recent was in 2012 at Twickenham, and it was their biggest win, a 54-12 thumping. There are six men from the starting England side that day who line up again for this tournament opener.
Last five games
September 5, 2015
England 21-13 Ireland
August 22, 2015
France 25-20 England
August 15, 2015
England 19-14 France
March 21, 2015
England 55-35 France
March 14, 2015
England 25-13 Scotland
September 6, 2015
Fiji 47-18 Canada
August 3, 2015
Fiji 39-29 Samoa
July 29, 2015
Fiji 27-22 Japan
July 24, 2015
Fiji 30-30 Samoa
July 18, 2015
Fiji 30-22 Tonga
But the Fijian side is likely to be stuffed with more talent than three years ago. They are without Top 14 star Napolioni Nalaga, but the team still boasts the considerable talents of Bath-bound scrum-half Niko Matawalu and Bordeaux-Begles full-back Metuisela Talebula, as well as skipper Akapusi Qera, who will be remembered fondly by Gloucester fans for his stint in their No. 7 jersey.
Lineups
England: Mike Brown, Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Brad Barritt, Jonny May, George Ford, Ben Morgan, Chris Robshaw, Tom Wood, Geoff Parling, Courtney Lawes, Dan Cole, Tom Youngs, Joe Marler
Bath’s twinkle-toed centre made a dazzling re-start to his England career in the 2015 Six Nations. The 24-year-old got off the mark with his trademark step that earned him just enough space to wriggle over against Wales in Cardiff, and he followed that up with an impressive brace against Italy.
Joseph’s form secured him the No. 13 jersey for the World Cup, albeit with the only contender emerging as the untried Henry Slade following the banishment of Manu Tuilagi.
Joseph will be the man England may need to unlock tight defences in this tournament, but it could be his own rearguard qualities that come under the spotlight first.
If Fiji stick to their traditional philosophy, they will look to move the ball away from the contact area and bring their menacing back three players into the game as often as possible.
Joseph’s defensive alignment and communication with those inside and outside him must be spot on to avoid being cut to ribbons by the big men thundering his way.
Nemani Nadolo
Fiji's wing Nemani Nadolo (R) hands-off Canada's wing DTH van der Merwe during the international rugby union friendly match between Canada and Fiji, ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, at The Stoop in Twickenham, west of London, on September 6, 2015. AFP P
At 6'5" and over 19 stone, no wonder giant back Nemani Nadolo has been tagged the modern day Jonah Lomu. He was in fine try-scoring form for the New Zealand based franchise the Crusaders in this year’s Super Rugby competition and has a phenomenal record at international level, per Gerard Meagher in the Guardian:
"A rare breed of wing who also kicks the odd goal, Nadolo has failed to score points in only four of his 19 Fiji appearances, running in 15 tries, while he scored all the points in Fiji’s 17-13 defeat to Wales last autumn during his side’s most recent trip to the UK."
Had Nadolo been around in the days of Lomu, he may well have had a similar impact on the English as the giant All Black in that 1995 semi-final.
He will tower over and heavily outweigh the wings Stuart Lancaster has chosen, but he can also play in the midfield, where his presence will put Brad Barritt’s famed defence through a rigorous examination.
Australia, England, Fiji, Uruguay and Wales make up Pool A of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and the pool is looking like the most fascinating of all...
Rugby World Cup 2015: Why Jonny May Will Be England's X Factor
Sep 7, 2015
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 05: Jonny May of England charges past Jamie Heaslip of Ireland during the QBE International match between England and Ireland at Twickenham Stadium on September 5, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
England finished the last World Cup with Chris Ashton and Mark Cueto as their first-choice wings.
It was a fair bet that, given the wreckage of that adventure under Martin Johnson, there would be wholesale changes to the setup.
The team manager was one of the first casualties, replaced in an interim capacity for the start of the 2012 Six Nations by Stuart Lancaster, who set about securing the job permanently and overhauling the playing staff to boot.
The wide men of the Johnson era were perhaps not immediately on Lancaster’s chopping list.
But the tries from out wide then started to run dry.
Ashton played throughout 2012, scoring only once, in that famous win over the All Blacks, and amassed another eight caps the following year with just two tries.
But 2014 saw him make just two appearances for England as his try-scoring form disappeared and defence became an issue, per former England wing Rory Underwood’s damning assessment in the Express.
Cueto was bringing the curtain down on his own England career on a more voluntary basis than Ashton, and the options out wide were starting to look thin. Northampton full-back Ben Foden and fellow No. 15 Mike Brown then appeared regularly in Cueto’s old No. 11 berth.
But Lancaster made the significant step of throwing in two rookies for the start of the 2014 Six Nations.
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND - JANUARY 30: The England new wing partnership of Jonny May (L) and Jack Nowell during the England training session held at Pennyhill Park on January 30, 2014 in Bagshot, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Jack Nowell and Jonny May were handed their chances after impressing for clubs Exeter and Gloucester, respectively. They injected pace and invention into the side, and as their experience grew, so too did their understanding of the game at international level.
A year later, with Nowell injured, another player fresh on the scene was Bath’s Anthony Watson, who immediately started scoring tries and looking a genuine world-class prospect.
Watson’s displays since making his debut have all but cemented him as Lancaster’s preferred choice on the right wing as we head into the World Cup, but May has had more work to do to convince his coaches that he should be the man to occupy the other wing.
He was dropped in the recent Six Nations as his supply of tries failed to materialize, but reports of star showings during England’s summer training camp and now his displays during the World Cup warm-ups suggest he appears to have cracked the code for success at Test level.
When asked to name the player who had impressed him most over the summer training regime, Lancaster picked the Cherry and Whites man, per the Guardian:
He has been the standout performer so far, probably in the whole squad really. He has been excellent and has really got the bit between his teeth. It sometimes happens, when a player gets dropped from an international team. They can feel sorry for themselves or turn round and say: ‘Right, I’m going to work harder at my game.’ He’s definitely done that.
It’s a fast turnaround from the demotion he suffered earlier this year, so how has he done it?
Straightening up
His early matches saw him labeled as something of a sideways runner, too willing to crab across the field, as the Mirror’s Alex Spink wrote:
"He is transformed from a player whose early displays were hallmarked by lateral runs rather than locking onto the try line like a heat-seeking missile, as he does now."
And he was also previously accused of lacking that killer finishing instinct, as evidenced by the try he bombed against Ireland at Twickenham in 2014.
The score he put past Tommy Bowe on Saturday and the second that was unluckily chalked off for a forward pass suggest he has sharpened up in that department too.
Searing pace
In the autumn of last year, May showed the world what he could do.
Confirming the old maxim that there really is no substitute for pace, he showed the All Blacks back line the ball, then skated around them on the outside to score one of the great Twickenham tries.
He is coached at his club by former Olympic sprinter Marlon Devonish, per the Mirror, who helps keep his top speed. Devonish has also seen the change in his mental attitude.
He’s found his feet, he looks settled, you can see that now he feels he belongs, said Devonish, who won Olympic sprint relay gold in 2004 and retired as Britain’s most decorated athlete. He’s got a winners’ mentality. Without doubt he can be a key weapon for England in this tournament.
And May has also highlighted the help Devonish has given him, per Sky Sports.
All round game
May was given nine out of 10 by the Telegraph’s Steve James for his display against Ireland, who wrote that May “really has gone away and worked hard at his game. Now looks top-notch at this level in all respects.”
And that assessment was backed up by England hooker Tom Youngs, who went so far as to bestow the X-factor label on his colleague, per Sky Sports:
"He did some freakish stuff against Ireland, stepping people and going through them. Only Jonny can do that. He can produce something out of nothing, there is that X-factor about him."
Having been given the chance to redeem himself this summer, May seems to have taken it with both hands. He has shown his coaches he can do what they require of him in defence and for the team, but when given a glimmer of a chance, he can also take teams apart on his own.
England’s players returned from their Denver training camp last weekend and will now have one month left to earn their places in Stuart Lancaster’s World Cup squad...
Sam Burgess Must Commit to Forward Role in Order to Realise World Cup Dream
Jul 24, 2015
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND - JULY 08: Sam Burgess looks on during the England training session held at Pennyhill Park on July 8, 2015 in Bagshot, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Experimentation in sport is always an intriguing and risk-ridden procedure, with England hopeful Sam Burgess left with a matter of weeks to stake his claim on a World Cup spot.
Whether the project is successful will depend largely on how efficiently Burgess can go about his work in the time he has left, and a permanent switch to the back row promises to yield the greatest benefits.
The time has come to cease the back-and-forth pondering over his potential as a centre; Burgess always faced a race against time to make the World Cup, and one would be hard-pressed not to admit he's more of a threat in the pack.
Maximising the danger he could bring with him to the World Cup won't be aided by any time wasted. We delve into the reasons why Burgess must devote himself to England's back-row battalion.
Technical Difficulties
BATH, ENGLAND - MAY 23: Sam Burgess of Bath celebrates at the final whistle following the Aviva Premiership Semi Final match between Bath Rugby and Leicester Tigers at Recreation Ground on May 23, 2015 in Bath, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Image
Rugby league and union are essentially two sides of the same coin, yet the differences between the two are so staggering it's rare for an athlete to ever truly embrace the two in equal measure.
The RFU and just about every England supporter presumably had the same vision upon hearing South Sydney Rabbitohs star Burgess was heading for the Rec.
"Finally," England coach Stuart Lancaster must have thought. "A centre solution to fit all occasions, and all he requires is one of the most intense crash courses ever witnessed in professional rugby."
It hasn't gone to plan, though, and instead of Burgess becoming the athletic and agile midfield weapon envisioned, he's struggled to adapt to the demands. World Cup winner Matt Dawson told Radio 5 Live he believes Burgess cannot play centre at the World Cup:
He's been found out playing for Bath in that midfield. Stuart Lancaster has said [Burgess has] power, skill, agility, defence. No question there. Lancaster didn't talk about reading the game, game-management, analysis, positioning. Burgess hasn't got it. When he's been in the forwards he's been a real threat. You can't take him to the World Cup just because he's good for morale.
Without doing a disservice to the finer nuances of playing in the pack, forwards are largely looked upon as the simpler bunch in rugby for a reason. Up front, in the melee, things tend to be streamlined and less complicated.
And it's not as though England can afford to carry players at their home tournament, either. The suspension of Manu Tuilagi shortens the options at centre, while 5 Live's Chris Jones points out the quality of player in the firing line if Burgess did make it as a back:
Henry Slade and Luther Burrell are just two of the players at risk, with Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond also among those striving to fit into Lancaster's tactics.
If one were to be frank, the Burgess blueprint was a fine idea in principle, but for a man who only played his first game of union less than a year ago, it was simply asking too much.
At least in the forwards, Burgess can make a dent and be seen getting about the park making his mark, but the responsibilities and potential pitfalls are just too great in midfield, the core of the side.
England assistant coach Graham Rowntree even admitted earlier in July that it was still unclear as to where his priority position would be:
The Associated Press (h/t ESPN Scrum) has since reported Lancaster as saying England had centre in mind for the convert, but it strikes as an all too desperate decision considering his inability to do serious damage in the role.
In an area of the pitch so crucial, one would assuredly rather have a master of their trade than an unpolished gem merely trying to shine as brightly as possible.
The Piece Should Fit the Puzzle
BATH, ENGLAND - MAY 26: Sam Burgess looks on during the training session held during the Bath media day held at Farleigh House at on May 26, 2015 in Bath, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Individuals may enjoy their moments in the spotlight and accolades that go down in history, but one thing remembered about any team to have won a World Cup is the group that claimed the achievement.
In Burgess' case, it would be unwise for Lancaster to persevere with attempting to shape the player he desires and instead accept the tool at his disposal and maximising the impact of that.
Very seldom is it that a player comes along so talented that they warrant an entire lineup being built to fit their needs; Burgess certainly isn't that at centre but is receiving treatment that might suggest otherwise.
As Paul Williams of Rugby World points out, the 26-year-old's transfer to England is looking like quite the mess when it should have been clear a lot sooner as to where his future lay:
Still can't believe that only now do we have clarity over Burgess' position.
Burgess may be asked to do some things differently in union compared to his time in the National Rugby League, but one thing that's sure to remain true is that his coaches want to carry a lot of ball.
That's something the blindside flanker position will accommodate, and ex-England captain Mike Tindall agrees with former team-mate Dawson, posting his Burgess thoughts on Kicca.com:
Sam is an incredible athlete, powerful runner, aggressive defender that can hit hard (just ask Billy Vunipola), great engine and he's a great lad off the field but if you compare his performances for Bath at 12/13 or 6 they are not in the same league.
...
Burgess's issues at centre mainly come around decision making especially defensively as his whole career he has been allowed to go after people but in Union you have to evaluate every situation to make the correct decision especially off set piece. In watching his games for bath at centre teams were able to pull him out of position by knowing he would want to make a hit.
...
I think if Sam is going to make the squad his best chance is at Back Row but we will have to see what the England Management decide.
Lancaster's apparent urge to see Burgess at centre is odd too when one considers England's emerging midfield to actually be quite a talented one.
Jonathan Joseph shoulders a heavy burden as the future of the back line, but Eastmond and Burrell add some exciting dimensions, with Barritt and Billy Twelvetrees striving to fit in themselves.
Even with some cuts to make in the coming months, Lancaster has a raft of versatile options in that crop, a mix that doesn't need a decidedly subpar Burgess complicating matters further.
To elect Burgess to the squad as a back would be a decision made with the heart and not the head, precisely the kind of behaviour to be avoided heading into a home World Cup.
All or Nothing
Despite all debate, it's undoubtedly worth pointing out Burgess will most likely have a minimal say in the matter, doing as all good players do and simply play where the manager wants him to, as the cliche goes.
However, he should be striving as much as anyone to play where he's likely to cause the greatest stir, even if that would mean going up against some very heady opponents for the job.
In the back row, England have Chris Robshaw, Tom Wood, James Haskell, Matt Kvesic and Calum Clark competing for the flanker spots, not to mention those dropped and omitted thus far.
BT Sport blogger Shaun Wren rightly points out Lancaster must hold a great deal of hope for the player, considering some of the talents who have already missed out on their World Cup ambitions:
@PaulMorganrugby Couldn't agree more I thought they might have stayed and Burgess would've been dropped. He must really impressed Lancaster.
Having been brought up in the harsh wilds of league, however, Burgess doesn't seem the type to shy away from a good-natured contest for playing time against some superbly gifted individuals.
Sure, the situation at centre could make his plight an easier one up until the World Cup, but what comes after that? Does he play a bit-part role in midfield and be caught out by the opposition? Does he play any part at all?
In an ideal world, Burgess' hulking figure would have had a three-year window to adapt to rugby in a more gradual manner. However, such are the cards he's been dealt, it's at six he throws his weight about best.
Fellow convert Israel Folau, who came to Super Rugby's Waratahs from the NRL via Aussie Rules, was candid in saying Burgess would be of more use in the forwards, per Fox Sports (via Planet Rugby):
He’d definitely be better in the forwards. His skill set looks suited to a running forwards position. But I’m sure wherever the coach decides to play him he’ll do really well.
For me coming across as an outside back I felt like my transition was a little bit easier because it is very similar to my role playing rugby league. But a forward’s role in league and union is very different. There are a lot of new things to pick up and the style is quite different.
But a guy like Sam Burgess who is very talented can pick up the game quite quickly and he’s definitely got some talent so I hope he does really well.
With less than two months to go until the start of the tournament, it's completely feasible fans could see Burgess lining up against Australia, Wales and Fiji at the World Cup, but it's only thanks to his back-row shifts that's even the case.
We should take that as a clear signal the ever-improving powerhouse is best suited among the forwards, ploughing resources into that side of his development rather than wasting time on a lost path at centre.
England Reveal New-Look Shirt Ahead of Rugby World Cup 2015
Head coach Stuart Lancaster discussed the new shirts:
Every player in the squad takes enormous pride in pulling on the England shirt.
As a group, we talk about the unbreakable bond of the rose between former, current and future players and for this symbol to be emphasised in 3D form is a key feature.
We are grateful for the support of the fans and in the year of a home World Cup, the power of the nation behind us can be the difference.
The replica shirts will cost fans an eye-watering £120m, with only 2,015 (geddit?) available.
England face Fiji in the first game of the 2015 World Cup on September 18 at Twickenham.
