Sat in an empty top tier at Twickenham with the rest of England’s unused squad members, Jamie George could only watch from on high as the disaster unfolded beneath him. It was late August and the final warm-up game before the World Cup, a day that was meant to serve as a sort of celebratory send-off for Steve Borthwick’s side turned upside down by Fiji’s first-ever victory over England.
Borthwick’s men have won four from four since but, as the two nations prepare to re-acquaint themselves with one another on the elevated stage of a World Cup quarter-final, the performance still feels fresh in the memory. The fact that so many common themes resurfaced in the final pool game against Samoa, where two vital late interventions from Danny Care rescued England from the ignominy of another historic defeat, suggest that England might not have progressed as significantly as thought.
