Vintage and beautiful it was not however this morning Pool A’s table has a big fat number five next to England Rugby’s name and in the cold light of day that is all that matters. England’s opening performance in the 2015 Rugby World Cup was wrought with nerves, penalties and turnovers however as Stuart Lancaster said ‘at the start if you had offered us four tries and a bonus point I would have absolutely taken that.'
The atmosphere in the build up to the game at Twickenham Stadium was unlike anything that I have ever experienced before, you could almost touch the excitement and the electric opening ceremony simply added to that. By the time kick off arrived I can only imagine how England’s XV were feeling and it is no wonder that they struggled to calm their nerves in the opening stages. The ill timed drizzle did little to assist the monumental task of remembering that ‘this is just another game of rugby’ and certainly played a factor for both teams as passes didn’t go to hand and simple balls were dropped. As a collective England battled through these opening nerves and a penalty try and a yellow card to Niko Matawalu should have set the platform to charge on. However, as we all expected the physicality of the Fijians meant that England had little opportunity to truly settle into their attacking rhythm during the course of the match let alone the sin bin period.
As has been the case in recent times England’s bench took the match by the scruff to the neck when they arrived, en mass, after fifty minutes. Joe Launchbury announced his arrival onto the field by forcefully shifting 19 stone Nadolo into touch, a confidence boosting moment for the whole side after the big man had been causing a spot of havoc. Billy Vunpiola took the direct approach and this is exactly what Stuart Lancaster had implored his side to do at half time.
I asked Stuart Lancaster during the post match press conference what his key messages were at the break and he shared that they had focused on addressing their lateral play, he had reminded his players to play the game in the right areas of the field and that discipline was king. It is fair to say that the first two were addressed in the second half however the third remained a problem area. The breakdown was a source of countless profit for Fiji and had they slotted all of their opportunities off the tee the game would have been far too close to for comfort. The fact remains that they didn't and England got off scot free, against Wales they won’t.
The sparkle and razzmatazz of the evening came from a man that is already back to his very best only a short time after concussion frustrations. Mike Brown fizzed from full back, he made 172 meters, 4 clean breaks, beat 9 defenders and crucially secured 2 of England’s 4 tries. England are a different entity with Brown on the field, his solidity under the high ball, attacking threat and competitive spirit ignite England and invite others to follow him. Billy Vunipola’s contribution was clearly evident on the scoreboard and as mentioned his direct approach added the go forward that was critically needed. A concern remains the scrummage, once again England's set piece percentage was less than perfect as they lost three scrums against the head and the aforementioned breakdown was an area England never had true control of, concerning when you have two individuals like Warburton and Tipuric en route.
From my perspective the context of this game counts for a lot and I do not believe that we will not see the same errors repeated in future matches. This game could have been the ultimate banana skin and whilst it wasn't beautiful, England didn't slip up. The Fijian's physicality and ability to disrupt their opponents will be seen throughout this tournament and as Stuart said after the game 'they will cause every team problems in this tournament'. This morning English bodies will be hurting at Pennyhill Park but they will be safe in the knowledge they have started their tournament with the maximise number of points possible and battled through a tough opening night. Onwards and upwards to Wales!
