The Sports World Baby Flying Fijians faced a heavy 48-11 defeat against England in their second match of the U20 World Cup at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa today.
Following their 57-7 loss to hosts South Africa in the opening game, the Fijians hoped to turn things around in this encounter.
England secured the win with tries from James Isaacs, James Halliwell, Angus Hall (2), Henry Pollock, Toby Cousins (2), and Kane James, along with eight points from Ben Coen. Fiji’s points came from Isikeli Basiyalo and Benjamin Naivalu.
Fiji’s Ebernezer Tuidraki was sin-binned in the first minute, but they opened the scoring with a Basiyalo penalty.
England responded by kicking to the corner and using their maul for Isaacs to score the first try, which Coen converted.
With Fiji back to full strength, Halliwell powered to the line from just inside the Fijian 22 and Coen added the extras, giving England a 14-3 lead.
Halliwell quickly sent Hall away down the wing to score on his debut, six minutes later.
England then scored a bonus-point try after Cousins broke through midway and set up Pollock, who crossed the line for another try, converted by Coen.
Pollock and Cousins combined again as Cousins chipped ahead from 40 meters and scored England’s fifth try.
Though Basiyalo added another penalty, an interception by Hall near halfway saw him race away to score, making it 36-6 at halftime.
England faced a brief setback when Harvey Cuckson was sin-binned at 52 minutes, but James drove over from a five-meter scrum, converted by Coen, extending the lead to 43-6 with less than 20 minutes remaining.
In the final stages, another five-meter scrum allowed England to work the ball wide, with replacement Josh Bellamy finding Cousins in the corner for his second try.
Fiji, aiming to end on a high note, saw James receive a yellow card, allowing Naivalu to breach the English defense, ending the match at 48-11.