England warned against 'nasty' Fiji
SPOTLIGHT: One of England’s senior players warned his teammates to be wary of the dangers Fijiian players can pose from his personal experience.
Ellis Genge has told England to prepare themselves for a physical battle against Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Pacific Islanders are the lowest-ranked side England will face in their four Nations Series rugby internationals this month.
Fiji, however, upset the odds to win 30-22 at Twickenham two years ago before suffering an agonising 24-30 World Cup quarterfinal loss to Steve Borthwick’s men two months later in Marseille.
Fiji have long been regarded as one of the more cheerful teams in world rugby. But prop forward Genge, who will captain England for the third time this weekend, cited his Bristol teammate Viliame Mata as an example of how Fijian appearances can be deceptive.
“I said to our forwards when we finished our mauling session on Thursday, typically at the club, Fijians are the ones who are always laughing, joking,” explained Genge.
“Every Fijian I have ever played… they’re brilliant, brilliant people. They’re very laid back and very casual about things.
“But don’t be fooled. Bill Mata is a nasty piece of work when he’s on the pitch.
“I play with him, I love watching him melt people for Bristol, and I am sure he’s going to try to do the same to me this weekend.”
Genge added: “I just made it clear to the boys that, although these people grow up on beaches throwing a rugby ball about and they’re lovely people, they are very nasty to play against.
“Obviously, I did not want any of the boys to be shocked by that and the physical battle of attrition that is going to come.
“There’s not a rich history of England v Fiji matches, but the bottom line is they beat us last time we played at Twickenham, so there’s a bit there.”
Defeat by Fiji represented a low point in England’s rugby union history, with Genge determined to avoid a repeat as his side look to build on last week’s 25-7 win over Australia ahead of further Twickenham encounters with New Zealand and Argentina.
“It hurt,” recalled Genge. “It was the first time they’d ever beaten us at Twickenham. Mental. And I was a part of it. It feels like I’ve been a part of a lot of heartache.”
England, however, recovered quickly from that warm-up reverse, with Genge saying: “Looking forward, it was a long time ago and it probably made us better because we went out and put together one of our best performances at the World Cup against Argentina with 14 men.”
