Why are England playing Fiji at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and not Twickenham?

Fiji host England at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool in the second round of the Nations Championship

Fiji and England go head to head today in the second round of the Nations Championship.

Both teams began their campaigns of the new tournament with defeat, with the Flying Fijians well beaten in Cardiff by Wales and Steve Borthwick's side put to the sword by the Springboks.

This weekend sees the two meet in Liverpool at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, which hosted the Super League match between Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls last weekend.

Like last weekend in Cardiff, the Pacific Islanders will be the home team on Merseyside.

They have decided to stage their matches in the northern hemisphere, instead of back home in Fiji, in order to maximise the financial returns from their games, with a view to hosting fixtures on home territory in the future when their facilities have been expanded.

From any English perspective, spreading rugby to the north, away from Twickenham, is also being seen as a good thing.

“What a great thing for the North of England,” former England captain Bill Beaumont told Rugby World. “We don’t get many of these. I never played an England game in the North.

“The North of England is a sporting area. Whatever sport, whatever code, it’s a hotbed.

"We have the big football clubs, the Test cricket grounds… the one thing missing is a big international rugby union presence in the North and now we have the opportunity.

“The scarcity value of England coming to town creates a special atmosphere at these games. This game gives the opportunity to northern kids to see their heroes in real life wearing the white jersey. And that is the generation which hopefully will carry the game on.”

Former England intentional Mark Cueto, a native of the north, agrees. “Let’s have one game a year in the North,” he says.

“Surely it would make sense to spread the international game around the country.

"People say Manchester isn’t a rugby union city but there are 100 grass-roots rugby clubs within 25 miles of Sale Sharks.

"There are 50,000 members within those 100 clubs. Football is big in the North, yes, but everyone plays everything. People are fans of sport full stop. If England played in the North more often, people would come.”

Fiji versus England kicks off at 2.10pm on Saturday, July 11.

The match will be shown live on ITV1.

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