England have ended Fiji’s crowd-pleasing run at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday with a tense 30-24 win to reach the semi-finals for the sixth time.

In a welcome result for the northern hemisphere after quarter-final losses for Ireland and Wales on Saturday, the English countered a second-half fightback by the Flying Fijians as captain Owen Farrell kicked a drop goal and a penalty in the final eight minutes at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

England will play either host France or defending champion South Africa in the semi-finals next weekend.

Trailing 21-10 at halftime, Fiji turned on their attacking flair and crossed for tries through prop Peni Ravai and flyhalf Vilimoni Botitu to tie the scores at 24-24 after 68 minutes.

But the Pacific island nation couldn’t complete the comeback in their bid to become the first tier-two team to get to the semi-finals since the game went professional after the 1995 World Cup.

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