Something is happening in south-west London. The statistics will give you a hint of it – England have won nine Tests in a row and haven’t lost at home all year – but the sight of the way they played here in the second half against Fiji says more about what’s going on than the numbers do.
England, whisper it, turned in a brilliantly entertaining 40 minutes of freewheeling rugby against a Fiji team who are a hell of a lot better than their ninth-placed standing in the world rankings suggests. The Fijians invited England to a dance, and, glory be, Steve Borthwick’s team were delighted to take them up on it. You can only wonder what Borthwick made of it from his spot up in the coaches’ row.
