The English Team v the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Overview
Game Coverage
Match Background
Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. Their appeal stems from transformations and natural progress, ahead of the certain deterioration that results in widespread disarray demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. And now, precipitation has commenced.
England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario and the beginning has been favorable for him. Their initial victory against Australia this November marks an improvement compared to last year, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan as the full stop in the final week. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump that the opening trio of NZ, Australia and Boks meant the fixtures were front loaded to a fault, and a trend of unhappiness trailed each match result. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with Fiji as a chance to consolidate the positive vibes.
The English squad shows many changes compared to last week's selection, which given the class sprinkled throughout the Fiji squad could be be seen as hubris from Borthwick. However, even though the Fijians are far from pushovers, they have historically faced challenges in this matchup. Only one victory in nine matches versus England occurred in the 2023 World Cup preparatory games.
England are also arguably the best team in the world at despatching teams they should not struggle against; they hold the distinction of being unbeaten against Italy in the Six Nations, and they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.
