ENGLAND head coach Stuart Lancaster admitted his team will need to improve before they take on Wales next weekend in a vital group game.

He watched his side stall, but still managed to pick up the maximum five points from the tie as they won 35-11 in a less than convincing performance.

The two areas in particular Lancaster thought needed tweaking were the scrum and the breakdown.

He said: "We'll need to look at the scrum because we didn't get as much clean ball from set piece as we'd have liked.

"In the contact area Fiji made it very difficult and we need to be a bit more direct.

"I think in the last 20 minutes or so we were more direct and caused Fiji problems, but we gave away a few penalties for not rolling away, so we'll need to look at that."

Lancaster made four changes on 50 minutes, with Joe Marler, Geoff Parling, Ben Morgan and Ben Youngs all making way for Mako Vunipola, Joe Launchbury, Billy Vunipola and Richard Wigglesworth respectively.

It added a spark to an otherwise flat English performance and Lancaster admitted the players coming off the bench had forced their way into the reckoning for starting places next week.

He said: "I think they have.

"We select one game at a time so we have no set plans and some of the guys put their hands up."

The coach heaped praise on the Vunipolas, which could mean a bench spot for Sussex's Joe Marler.

Ben Morgan stuttered in the back row and with Wales opting for Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric in the back row Sunday against Uruguay, England will have to be on top form.

Lancaster said: "I think Fiji adopted a slightly different approach and committed four, five, six men into the breakdown and it's very difficult when they put that amount of bodies in there and come at it from all angles.

"Wales have got a slightly different policy there, but we'll have to look at it. We definitely need to improve."

The last time that Welsh combination lined up against England, Warren Gatland's men won 30-3 in Cardiff in 2013, and Lancaster knows what his side needs to do in order to make sure history does not repeat itself.

He said: " The quality of the team we're coming up against next week - we need to be at our best, and selection will be an important part of that.

"We need to improve, there's no doubt about that."

The star man for England was two-try hero Mike Brown, and Lancaster said his style of play inspires those around him.

The full-back's captain Chris Robshaw said: " He makes the right decisions at the right times, and we've come to expect that.

"After the last couple of games he's back to his best and that's great to see.

"There was a huge sideshow going on today and I think the boys handled it well.

"We probably went a little bit off script after the first five or ten minutes, but all in all to get five points in the first game - we always knew it would come down to the last five minute, we were hoping not the last couple of seconds - but we're in a happy place."

Geoff Parling's substitution was the only injury-forced replacement as the second row suffered a stinger to his shoulder, but it is not expected to keep him out against Wales.

Talking of the atmosphere and the Opening Ceremony, Lancaster said: " The whole thing was phenomenal as an occasion, Twickenham was rocking as we arrived.

"Boys were like caged animals waiting to get out, I think that's what built up the nerves a bit and we took a while to settle."

His captain added: "It was phenomenal from the moment we stepped off the bus.

"I think that's the loudest I've ever heard the anthem here and that's something that really gets the guys ready to go."