Mike Brown gets it right on the night for England

“It’s an emotional experience, the opening ceremony of the World Cup and beforehand we talked about going out, playing as well as we can and coming away with a win – that was the most important part”.

“They certainly made us work hard for it”, said Lancaster.

They then round out their group games with the all-important fixtures against England and finally Wales, both of which will be played at Twickenham.

The current Harlequins full-back is expected to have a big impact in the tournament which starts tonight with England’s opener against Fiji.

And he insisted Pacific Nations Cup champions Fiji, who knocked Wales out of the 2007 World Cup in France, would be handful for all the other sides in Pool A.

Referee Jaco Peyper had to go to the TMO after Vunipola barged his way over but he was given the all clear and England had what they were looking for. Ford punishes Fiji for offside.

Fiji found their feet though, began to dominate the breakdown, and with 13 minutes to go, Nemani Nadolo’s try had helped the islanders pull back to 18-11.

The outing will be Wood’s second taste of World Cup action after making one start in England’s 2011 campaign when he lined up against Georgia. Geoff Parling, centres Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joesph shifted the ball quickly to create space for Brown, who stepped inside his man to place the ball.

New Zealand kicked of their 2011 triumph as tournament hosts with an opening 41-10 victory over Tonga at Auckland’s Eden Park. England get on the rolling maul and Matawalu is penalised for stopping the advance and is sin-binned.

With Matawala in the sin bin England put the pressure on Fiji and were rewarded with a try scored by Mike Brown in the 22nd minute. Ford and Nadolo exchanged penalties to close a breathless half.

Kate cringed and cheered as England took on Fiji, while William looked more composed as he studied the match through black-framed glasses.

England could have been forgiven for being slightly nervous in front of an expectant home crowd.

Brown added another late in the second half and Billy Vunipola crashed over as the clock turned red to give England a bonus-point try.

Lancaster admitted the introduction of replacements including Vunipola and his brother Mako, Owen Farrell and Sam Burgess had given England the final momentum – and put the substitutes in contention to start next weekend’s meeting with Wales. Lucky to get the bonus point win.