England Fiji Fri 18th September 14, 2015
England XV
England remain unchanged for the line-up against Fiji on Friday.
Backs: 15 Brown 14 Watson 13 Joseph 12 Barritt 11 May 10 Ford 9 Youngs
Forwards: 1 Marler 2 Youngs 3 Cole 4 Parling 5 Lawes 6 Wood 7 Robshaw (captain) 8 Morgan
3 players to watch for England
8 Ben Morgan in a strong Fijian pack Ben Morgan will need to be at his best at the head of the pack. Lots of injury concern coming into the tournament surrounding Morgan. There won’t be any time to ease in for the Gloucester 8. Morgan will need to justify Lancaster taking a risk on his fitness for the World Cup.
Flanker Chris Robshaw, the host nation captain will have the weight of the nation on his shoulders. Like with Ben Morgan Robshaw and the England forward pack will have to be at their best with a physical Fijian group. You can pretty much guarantee throughout the tournament that Robshaw is going to be a player to watch for England- some people aren’t overly convinced on the 29-year-old particularly as captain.
Fly-half George Ford, while the forward pack contain the strength of the Fijians it will be up to Ford to create the spark and use his feet to attack the Fijians. Picked over Owen Farrell to start Ford has been solid from the tee throughout his recent international outings. If Ford can keep that momentum; he will be the most important player for England this Autumn.
3 players to watch for Fiji
Scrum-Half Nikola Matawalu- the Bath bound number 9 is an integral part of the Fiji team – blessed with size and strength – Matawalu dictates the pace and controls his teams on offence. The Fijian scored two tries as Stuart Lancaster watched Fiji roll over Canada 47-18.
The Fijian captain Akapusi Qera was a stand-out at the 2007 world cup scoring three tries as the Fijians were eliminated at the quarter finals. The 31-year-old has plenty of experience playing in England as well playing over 142 games for Gloucester before switching over to top 14 with Toulouse and Montpellier. Qera will most likely line up at 8-though he is a capable flank- to control the pack and create a potentially devastating partnership with Matawalu.
Another who will be familiar to English rugby is Vereniki Goneva who plays for Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership. The 31-year-old is a utility back that has 70 points in 35 caps for the Fijian side. Where Matawalu is the danger man Goneva is the power back with speed will be most likely to pass the try line.
