Pollock’s hat-trick powers England’s 11-try Nations Championship mauling of 14-man Fiji

Steve Borthwick’s England ended a five-Test losing run in style with a 73-8, 11-try victory over Fiji at Hill Dickinson Stadium

To say England needed to shine in sub-tropical Liverpool is the understatement of this protracted season. Had they slipped to a sixth straight Test defeat it would probably have been the end of Steve Borthwick’s tenure as head coach. Instead a one-sided romp, their first win since February, has given the management a little respite as they prepare to head to Argentina for the last leg of their continent-hopping summer itinerary.

In all honesty, though, Fiji were so disjointed and ill-disciplined for lengthy periods that the game resembled something close to a training run. A litany of botched offloads, silly penalties and back-pedalling mauls had long since allowed England to cruise away over the horizon even before Simione Kuruvoli was sent off just before half-time with his side already 35-3 behind.

So poor were the Fijians that England were required to do little out of the ordinary, albeit in unusually hot, energy-sapping conditions. On the plus side there were a hat-trick of scorching tries from Henry Pollock and eye-catching debut scores for Benhard van Rensburg and the flying Noah Caluori but this was about as far removed from elite Test intensity as Bootle is from the Bahamas.

That said it was hotter on Merseyside than it has been back in Suva this weekend. And while there is no escaping the fact that staging this game in Liverpool rather than the South Pacific handed England a significant competitive advantage, it is not Borthwick’s fault that the opposition were so completely out of sorts and lacking in many of the absolute basic prerequisites at this level.

Kuruvoli certainly wasn’t thinking straight when he lashed out with his boot as he tried to get off the floor following a tackle by Ellis Genge. The replays in the stadium were inconclusive but Mike Adamson, the television match official, had no doubt whatsoever and gave his fellow Scot Holly Davidson no option but to show a red card to the aghast scrum-half.

From that moment it was just a case of how many points England would rack up, with Marcus Smith ending up at scrum-half. Their most compelling spell came in the third quarter when Immanuel Fey-Waboso and Pollock scored sharp tries within the space of three minutes while Caluori also delivered an unselfish inside ball for Henry Slade to take England to their half-century just before the hour.

No one could remotely complain about the facilities at this impressive venue. That said it is a steep-sided suntrap on days like this and it was warm enough for World Rugby’s heat safety protocols to be activated, prompting enforced hydration breaks and an extended half-time of 20 minutes.

England were also assisted by a nice early slice of Liverpudlian luck, Fin Smith’s cross-kick bouncing back into play off the padded corner flag for his namesake Marcus to touch down. While there were fleeting glimpses of Fijian promise, with Jamie George doing well to knock Vuate Karawalevu into touch in the right corner, their only first-half points came via a solitary Caleb Muntz penalty.

The Fijian maul, a weakness against Wales last Saturday, was also ruthlessly targeted. England made a mess of their first opportunity, dropping the ball with the line beckoning, but second time around they made no mistake through the burrowing George. At 14-3 it was already a completely different story to England’s last outing in Johannesburg when England went 17-0 down inside the first 12 minutes.

With Fiji’s penalty count rising, the traffic remained resolutely one-way for extended periods but initially the final pass either fell to ground or England could not scoop up half-chances off their toes. Not that it mattered much. Borthwick’s side, without doing anything flash, were in complete control even before Levani Botia was waved away to the sin bin and, against 14 men, rattled in three tries in 10 dominant minutes.

Guy Pepper will cherish his 27th-minute score, his first for his country, as will Van Rensburg who crashed over seven minutes later. The latter’s family had made the long trek from his native South Africa and, at 29, the Bristol centre will now be hoping this is the first cap of many.

So will the 19-year-old Caluori who swallow-dived over in the right corner to give a hint of the speed and athleticism that have left many of his teammates open-mouthed. And then there is Pollock who twice burned off the cover on the outside in the last quarter to finish with characteristic elan.

The sooner England trust him from the start the better because rugby is changing by the day, as underlined by France against Australia in Brisbane earlier in the day. The best sides are operating at a relentless tempo that England have yet to match consistently and not every future opponent will be so generous. Borthwick and co may have cleared this modest Fijian speed bump but the road ahead remains a potentially rocky one.