Quarter-final: England 30-24 FijiFarrell kicks drop goal and penalty in last 10 minutes
When England touched down in France in late August they would definitely have settled for where they now sit. World Cup semi-finalists, five wins on the spin and, in theory, the chance of reaching a second successive final. It is not their concern that, as demonstrated again by New Zealand and Ireland on Saturday night, the gulf in quality between the two halves of the draw has been so pronounced.
They also had to survive a proper scare, with Fiji pulling back to 24-24 with 11 minutes left only for a drop-goal and a penalty, his fifth of the evening, from their captain, Owen Farrell, to restore some order. First-half tries from Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant had initially given them control of a hard-edged contest but their sense of relief at the final whistle was entirely genuine.
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