Fiji players celebrate on the final whistle during the pre-2023 World Cup warm-up rugby union match between England and Fiji at Twickenham Stadium. Picture: Ian Kington / AFP
Fiji beat England for the first time with a 30-22 victory in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Pacific islanders fully deserved their win in a match where both teams scored three tries, with this reverse meaning England head to the World Cup in France on a run of five defeats in six matches.
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Fiji were 12 points ahead early in the second half and although England closed to within a point, the visitors pulled clear with a try seven minutes from time by replacement Simione Kuruvoli.
England desperately needed a win ahead of a tough Pool D World Cup opener against Argentina in Marseille on September 9.
Fiji, meanwhile will be in buoyant mood in the run-up to a World Cup they begin against Wales — the team they knocked out of the 2007 edition in France — in Bordeaux on September 10.