England made it two wins from two at the Rugby World Cup tonight as three second half tries earned them a BP victory over Japan in Nice, Courtney Lawes leading from the front as captain.

This hard-fought victory sends the 2019 runners-up into pole position in Pool D, winning their opening two and leading the way with eight points, Japan stay rooted on five following their first bonus point win over Chile a week ago.

A jittery Japanese start invited early England pressure, George Ford extending his tournament points tally to thirty with an easy penalty four minutes in.

Within seven minutes, Japan coach, Jamie Joseph was forced into a substation, full-back Semisi Masirewa hobbling off with Lomano Lemeki on earlier than anticipated.

That didn’t stop them levelling with a quarter of an hour elapsed, their first scintillating break, conducted by scrumhalf, Yutaka Nagare, resulting in a penalty in front of the posts, slotted by Rikiya Matsuda.

It was then Lewis Ludlam to the rescue for Steve Borthwick’s side, Ford’s clearing kick charged down and hounded by Japan attackers in pursuit, Ludlam alert and composed to mop up successfully.

Lemiki then went close running onto a chip in behind, the bounce eluding him but Matsuda nosing the Brave Blossoms 6-3 in front from the tee.

Instantly, it was a lead lost though as Japan gifted attacking possession to England and Borthwick’s boys made it count, Ludlam latching onto the ball and getting over for the first try of the match in Nice, Ford adding the extras for a four-point lead.

Ford fired an uncharacteristic kick wide on the half hour, Matsuda making it a costly miss as he serenely slotted his third penalty to bring us to a 10-9 scoreline.

Applying the pressure to put daylight between them at the break, England knocked on the door once more but hooker, Jamie George’s knock-on denying them a second try, Ford though finished the half with a well-struck penalty restoring England’s four-point buffer at the interval.

A flurry of ferociously fast attacks commenced the second forty minutes with England’s rapid breaks into the twenty-two let down by a last-gasp wrong pass or handling error.

Scrappy but highly watchable, England kept kicking in behind but finding little joy to breaching the Japanese defence.

Once more, the Brave Blossoms bared their teeth, Matsuda going four from four with the boot to set English nerves jangling again.

They were instantly eased though as Ben Earl broke up field.  Recycling play, Ford’s pass hit Will Stuart then Joe Marler’s head bouncing for captain, Coutney Lawes to gather and run in unopposed, Ford adding the easy extras for a two-score margin.

Targeting the forwards, fleet of foot, Kotaro Matsushima on the wing showed a fresh pair of heels, dazzling as he surged up, his teammates though unable to get with him in time, as the attacking break went unconverted.

That proved costly as England swiftly sealed the win with a third try fourteen minutes from the end, Freddie Steward gathering Ford’s fantastic cross-field kick, the fly-half converting excellently to give Borthwick something more to smile about.

Pushing hard for the BP score, Japan resisted with incredibly resilient defending late on, England stepping up the tempo, free-flowing rugby pinning their opponents in.

Eventually, they got it centre Joe Marchant finishing off incessant pressure for the fourth try and BP, to ice the cake of a second successive group win.

Whilst still far from perfect, this was an England performance that was clinical, managed the match smartly and showed some attacking flair late on.

Japan now move into their rest week, not returning to RWC action on Thursday week (8pm KO), against Samoa at the Stadium de Toulouse.

England, meanwhile, face Chile in six days’ time on Saturday afternoon, a clash taking place at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille (4:45pm KO).