Who’s hot and who’s not: Fiji make history, Springboks shine while England feature twice for wrong reasons

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Fiji celebrate while England dejected at Twickenham.

Fiji celebrate while England dejected at Twickenham.

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

Fiji make history: What a performance from the Fijians as they secured a first ever victory over England and deservedly so. Twickenham was stunned by the result as Steve Borthwick’s outfit went down 30-22 on Saturday as Fiji scored 27 second-half points, sending a message that they are a serious threat in Pool C where they will go up against Australia, Wales, Georgia and Portugal. Waisea Nayacalevu, Vinaya Habosi and Simione Kuruvoli crossed for the excellent islanders but it truly was a team effort, with Fiji celebrating in style with their fans.

Springboks shine: Speaking of throwing down a marker, on Friday night it was South Africa who showed they mean business at Rugby World Cup 2023, with a 35-7 demolition of the All Blacks at Twickenham stunning the global game. Crossings from Siya Kolisi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith blew New Zealand away as the Springboks’ 7-1 bench split gave Ian Foster’s charges no respite. A quite remarkable performance from the reigning world champions as they suddenly look the team to beat in France.

France cut loose: Such a clinical performance from Les Bleus as their big names came to the party against the Wallabies on Sunday. It’s a joy to watch France play rugby at the moment and the likes of Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud are just special rugby players, the latter continuing his purple patch at Test rugby with two tries. The second was classic Penaud and we agree he is such a relaxing player to watch.

Monty Ioane stars: While Italy won by a handsome 21-point margin, their 42-21 victory over Japan was far from straightforward as the Brave Blossoms were within touching distance for most of the game. However, one man stood out with a hat-trick of tries for the Azzurri as Ioane was red hot in Treviso. If Italy can keep the likes of Paolo Garbisi, Ange Capuozzo and Ioane in the kind of scintillating form that they displayed on Saturday, pool rivals France and New Zealand will be pushed all the way and that group won’t be as predictable as many think.

Scotland come good: In the second half that is. Scotland were not at the races against Georgia in the opening period and in fact went into the changing rooms 6-0 down, with their recent first-half woes continuing. But after the turnaround they clicked into gear, with Finn Russell playing with a swagger while Duhan van der Merwe crossed twice and Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey and Kyle Steyn also crossed at Murrayfield. 33 second-half points certainly got fans off their seats and Gregor Townsend’s men now need to turn that 40 minutes into 80-minute efforts.

Samoa look a threat: On the day that Fiji conquered Twickenham, we came mighty close to witnessing arguably an even bigger upset in Bayonne as Samoa pushed Ireland all the way in the late match. Weather conditions were awful but it did not stop Samoa playing to a high standard, with every single one of their players putting in an impressive performance as Ireland struggled to live with their physicality and quality. Pool D suddenly got a lot more interesting as England, Argentina and Japan certainly have to bring their ‘A’ game against Samoa.

COLD AS ICE!

England’s new low: A new world ranking low of ninth position is the least of England’s worries as on Saturday they suffered a first ever loss to a Tier Two nation with that Fiji defeat. To their credit, the English started the contest in impressive fashion as they adopted more of an expansive game that led to Jonny May going over for the game’s first try on eight minutes. But thereafter the Red Rose came off second best as this team’s slide with Eddie Jones and now Borthwick at the helm reached a fresh low. Surely not another 2015 World Cup repeat?

All Blacks thumped: After their Rugby Championship title success, New Zealand were brought back down to earth with a thud on Friday. Foster’s outfit were completely outplayed and could not get their hands on the ball or gain any territory as the Springboks suffocated them at Twickenham. It was a wake-up call of epic proportions for the All Blacks but as Foster said it is better they had it now than in the World Cup.

Wake-up for Ireland: We’ve already praised Samoa but it’s worth pointing out that it’s not often that Ireland lose the physical battle in a game. That certainly happened in Bayonne and the narrow win was likely a wake-up call to the squad that they are not as formidable as they might seem. Depth in the pack clearly isn’t as strong as they possibly thought and it was also 80 minutes of on-the-job training in how better to play wet weather rugby. Plenty to work on in the coming fortnight then as Farrell’s 33-man squad look to promptly return to peak form.

Scott Barrett’s red: The lock now has the unfortunate tag of being the first All Blacks player to be sent off twice in Test match history. The 29-year-old has been in incredible form this year, but Friday’s clash was a forgettable performance as he was sin-binned for an accumulation of penalties in the 13th minute before a lazy and dirty shot on Malcolm Marx spelt the end of his game. The first he can be excused for as the Springboks had the All Blacks under the cosh, but the second was unnecessary and looks set to rule him out of the Rugby World Cup opener.

England off-field woes: It was a testing past week for Borthwick and company as they not only lost star outside back Anthony Watson to a World Cup-ending injury but also two key other senior players to suspension. Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola will both miss the World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9, with Farrell also ruled out of another crucial pool match against Japan. There is also concern over whether Elliot Daly will be available for the tournament after his training ground injury, as the pressure continues to pile on the Red Rose.

Test duo fail drug tests: Shock news broke on Saturday as former Springboks fly-half Elton Jantjies and former Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb were provisionally suspended after they tested positive for drugs. Both players were recently in camp with their respective nations and could face lengthy bans that could spell the end of their careers. The story and testing appears far from over so we wait to see the outcomes.

READ MORE: England v Fiji: Five takeaways from Rugby World Cup warm-up clash as history made at Twickenham

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