FORMER Melksham fullback Mike Brown put in a man of the match performance as England kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 35-11 win over Fiji.

Despite England not starting with the most convincing display against the South Pacific nation, Brown stole the show on the opening night of the World Cup at Twickenham as his two tries gave the home nation the perfect platform.

A penalty try, after a strong driving maul, followed by a Brown try in the corner, when Tom Wood stole a Fijian line-out, gave England a commanding position.

However, Fiji fought back well, dominating at the breakdown, and a combination of Jonny May and Brown prevented Nikola Matawala from touching down.

The respite was temporary though as Nemani Nadolo scored moments later, when the giant wing clung on to Ben Volavola's crossfield kick.

Brown got his second try in the second half after smart offloads from May and replacement Owen Farrell helped the Harlequin player over the line.

A try in the dying seconds from Billy Vunipola secured the bonus point win, after both Brown and May broke the line, and set England up nicely in Group A.

Despite the bonus point victory, former Royal Wootton Bassett wing May was left frustrated by England’s opening performance.

“Everything was going to plan and then quite quickly, just some loose play and ill-discipline, we lost control of it,” said May.

“(It was) a good sign of character to get back a hold on the game and finish with four tries.

“I feel frustrated because, when we played the way we wanted to, we could have won a lot better than that.

“Still it is a potential banana skin out of the way and we managed to get it back eventually and we’ll take the positives.

“It was just a great team effort. I thought the subs really brought an impact off the bench and added positivity to the game and we went after them and managed to finish the job.

“We can just take a deep breath now and we’re into it.”