'Don’t be fooled': England star brands teammate 'a nasty piece of work'

Ellis Genge has warned England not to be deceived by Fiji’s smiles when the nations clash at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

The Islanders are the lowest-ranked opponents England face this autumn, but they stormed Twickenham 30-22 two years ago before taking Steve Borthwick’s men to the wire in their World Cup quarter-final two months later.

Genge captains England for the third time and uses the example of his Bristol team-mate Viliame Mata to highlight how the Fijians are transformed from joyful to ferocious when they step on to the pitch.

“I said to our forwards when we finished our mauling session on Thursday, typically at the club Fijians are the ones who are always laughing, joking,” the Bears prop said.

“Every Fijian I have ever played… they’re brilliant, brilliant people. They’re very laid back and very casual about things.

“But don’t be fooled. Bill Mata is a nasty piece of work when he’s on the pitch. I play with him, I love watching him melt people for Bristol and I am sure he’s going to try to do the same to me this weekend.

“I just made it clear to the boys that, although these people grow up on beaches throwing a rugby ball about and they’re lovely people, they are very nasty to play against.

“Obviously I did not want any of the boys to be shocked by that and the physical battle of attrition that is going to come.

“There’s not a rich history of England v Fiji matches, but the bottom line is they beat us last time we played at Twickenham, so there’s a bit there.”

Alex Coles has backed up Genge’s view as he prepares go head to head with his former Northampton team-mate Temo Mayanavanua.

“You can’t be lulled into that false sense of security. They’re the friendliest, most lovely people, then you’re carrying the ball and next thing you know they’ve taken your ribs out,” Coles said.

“It’s something we’ve addressed as a team – knowing those players and being aware that we’re going to see a different side to them. Afterwards it’ll be a different story.”

England are determined to avoid a repeat of one of the low points of their rugby history by preventing another Fijian ambush.

“It hurt. It the first time they’d ever beaten us at Twickenham. Mental. And I was a part of it. It feels like I’ve been a part of a lot of heartache,” Genge said.

“It was a tough day, we spoke about it earlier, the conversation we had four days after it and how uncomfortable it was. You don’t want to replicate those feelings.

“Looking forward, it was a long time ago and it probably made us better because we went out and put together one of our best performances at the World Cup against Argentina with 14 men so every cloud.”