England players warned of a physical encounter

England's prop Ellis Genge has told his players to prepare themselves for a physical battle against Fiji at Twickenham tomorrow.

The Pacific Islanders are the lowest-ranked side England will face in their four Autumn Nations Series rugby internationals this month.

Fiji, however, upset the odds to win 30-22 at Twickenham two years ago before suffering an agonizing 30-24 World Cup quarter final loss to Steve Borthwick's men two months later in Marseille.

Fiji have long been regarded as one of the more cheerful teams in world rugby but prop forward Genge, who will captain England for the third time this weekend, cited his Bristol team-mate Viliame Mata as an example of how Fijian appearances can be deceptive.

He says every Fijian he has played with are brilliant, very laid back and very casual about things.

Genge says Bill Mata is a nasty piece of work and he loves watching him melt people for Bristol and he sure he is going to try to do the same to him tomorrow.

Genge added he 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.

He adds 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.

Defeat by Fiji represented a low point in England's rugby union history, with Genge determined to avoid a repeat as his side look to build on last week's 25-7 win over Australia ahead of further Twickenham encounters with New Zealand and Argentina.

Fiji will face England at 5.40am tomorrow at Twickenham.