Scrum half Ben Youngs says England can’t give Fiji an inch

Sport360 staff 09:08 14/09/2015
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  • Spatial awareness: England scrum-half Ben Youngs.

    Ben Youngs has warned England of the danger posed by Fiji if they enter the second half of Friday’s World Cup opener sensing an upset is possible.

    The Islanders are heavy underdogs but know that if they remain in touch by the interval, they could take advantage of a restless Twickenham crowd and crank up the pressure on the tournament hosts.

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    It is a message that Youngs is keen to emphasise after several chances were butchered in last weekend’s 21-13 victory over Ireland, enabling the Six Nations champions to remain in the hunt.  

    “You’ve got to put teams to bed early. If we get three opportunities early on against Fiji, then we must take them,” scrum-half Youngs said.

    “They’re not the sort of side you want to still be in the game at half-time or 60 minutes because they have the ability to score from anywhere. They have so many threats like their offloading and stepping. We need to make sure we’re not keeping them in the game and feeding their belief.”

    Fiji’s dangermen are scrum-half Nikola Matawalu, giant wing Nemani Nadolo and centre Vereniki Goneva, who is one of Youngs’ team-mates at Leicester.

    “It’s just ridiculous what Fijians can do with limited space,” he said. “Give them any room in which to operate and they’ll make you look silly. We’ve got to make sure we’re watertight in defence.”

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