It seems a long time ago when England were advancing towards a World Cup in the shoes of a favorite for the title. Four years ago, the XV de la Rose was one of the behemoths of the oval world and had reached the World Cup final, finally losing against South Africa (32-12). Since then, things have changed across the Channel and the results no longer follow. The show offered at Twickenham on Saturday August 26 offered a new illustration of this: in front of a dumbfounded public, the locals lost for the first time in their history against Fiji (30-22).

Deprived of its captain and opener Owen Farrell, suspended for a dangerous tackle, the XV of the Rose had however started the meeting well. His replacement at number 10, George Ford, quickly opened the scoring with a penalty (3rd) before winger Jonny May went away to score the first try (8th) of an afternoon which promised to be quiet in the venerable enclosure of the London suburbs, the scene of the debacle of the All Blacks against South Africa the day before.

Unfortunately for the English, the second period was much less favorable to them. Despite two new tries scored by opener Marcus Smith (58th) and center Joe Marchant (69th), the XV of the Rose suffered above all from the offensive surges of the Fijians. A week after hanging the Blues in Nantes (34-17), Waisea Nayacalevu’s teammates overturned the meeting thanks in particular to a try from the Toulon center (44th). Despite a revolt at the end of the match, Steve Borthwick’s men saw, helpless, scrum half Simione Kuruvoli give them the coup de grace with a try in the last minutes (73rd).

The bad streak continues

“All we can do is keep moving forward,” England captain Courtney Lawes, who was no doubt dreaming of another outcome to celebrate his 100th cap, said on Amazon Prime after the match. The third-line added that the XV of the Rose was “not good enough and not in its place at the moment”. For his part, Fijian winger Selestino Ravutaumada said he was “proud of the boys”, before dedicating the victory to “all the Fijian people”.

This new defeat – the third in four preparatory test matches – further darkens the prospects of the XV de la Rose for the World Cup in France. The English will have to extricate themselves from a group made up of Argentina, Japan, Chile and Samoa. For their part, the Fijians are gaining confidence before tackling a tough pool, notably made up of Australia and Wales. In the event of favorable results, the two teams could also find themselves in the quarter-finals.