England vs Fiji Betting Tips: Predictions for Sunday's Rugby World Cup quarter final

Although hardly convincing so far this Rugby World Cup, England have surpassed lowly expectations in winning all four pool games to qualify for the knockout rounds as Pool D winners. Their prize for this feat is a clash with Fiji, a nation who celebrated a landmark first ever victory over the Red Rose just a few weeks ago at Twickenham. The rematch is on and England are fancied to gain redemption and advance to the semi-finals, and our man Billy Grimshaw has a couple of betting tips...

England do not look potential World Cup winners right now. In fact, they look like a side fortunate to have found themselves in the softer side of the draw to advance into the knockout rounds. Nevertheless, Steve Borthwick has been cryptic in his words surrounding preparation and his overarching plan for this World Cup and as such there is a cautious optimism amongst Red Rose fans who came into the tournament fearing the worst.

The doom and gloom was of course exasperated by the aforementioned loss to Fiji, the first time England had ever lost a game of rugby to a Pacific Island nation. Eddie Jones had gone but the men brought into clean up his mess seemed destined to simply make matters worse. Nevertheless, England did a job on Argentina in game one with a spirited fourteen man win after a farcical early red card. From then on they have won each game, as would be expected against Chile in particular, but the manner in which Samoa pushed them to the death last time out is concerning.

It would be far more concerning were Fiji heading here in any kind of form themselves. Yes, they've qualified for the knockouts for the first time ever and that is to be commended. They very nearly imploded however after the hapless Wallabies handed them runners up spot on a plate only for them to implausibly lose to the minnows Portugal! This was a great day for the Rugby World Cup but a humiliating loss for Fiji and although they still scraped through, they will have to be exponentially better to beat England for the second meeting in a row in Marseille.

Previewing England so far this tournament has been a fairly morbid duty, but the underlying tones still ring true that this is a seriously uninspiring group with ball in hand. It is not Borthwick's style to throw the ball around with careless abandon and go try hunting at every opportunity, he would rather rely on the kicking game of his trusted lieutenants to see England over the line. With that being said he must've been tempted to leave captain Owen Farrell out and stick with George Ford, who has been kicking superbly all tournament and indeed has looked more of a threat with the ball (that's not saying much mind) over Farrell.

Fiji are going for a side similar to the one which claimed that famous Twickenham win, with ten of the starting fifteen running out at the first hooter once more here in France. More is on the line here of course but the Fijians only know one way of playing rugby and that is an expansive brand. This can be their Achilles heel as when they have a game go as disastrously as the one against Portugal, when literally nothing would stick for them, then they can be left red faced. However, with strike such as Radradra out wide the Fijians are always dangerous and I'd fancy they'll be much more polished against England.

There is a massive clash of styles on show here but the sides are fairly evenly matched in terms of ability, and I do think the inclusion of Marcus Smith at full back is a positive and England do deserve to be marginal favourites. Will they manage to vanquish a Fiji side who can score from anywhere by nine or more points though? Of that I'm not so sure and with even money on the Fijians with an eight start, that'll do to start the staking plan.

The winning margin market is always a tricky one to get right in rugby but I cannot foresee this game being a blowout for England if they are to make it to the semi finals. We could easily see another kicking masterclass from the Red Rose, with the Fijians sticking in the fight by bagging quick tries. England's lack of creativity is the main reason that their thumping win over Chile will be an anomaly however much further they go into the tournament, and Borthwick and his coaching team are perfectly happy for this to be the case.

Obviously each game is unique but in their last games respectively Fiji lost within this margin and England won their game with Samoa by a solitary point. This match does not look the type for either team to race away and leave the other in their dust, unless perhaps we see the best Fijian performance of all time where every pass or expansive cross field kick comes off. The Fijians lack where they seem to have always lacked and that is with no real rugby general in the middle of the park who will guide his team around and kick efficiently. Nevertheless, with England struggling for points other than from the boot themselves this may not prove too detrimental.

It would be a hammer blow to the credibility of English Rugby were they to be eliminated by a side who just one week prior had been embarrassed by Portugal, but this will not be an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. I can foresee this one being tight throughout and the lead changing hands multiple times, before England just wrestle control and probably kick their way to the last four.