The English Team v Fiji – Fall International Rugby Match Analysis
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Introduction
Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. They often appear impressive because of shifts and organic growth, before the inevitable atrophying dumps of loads of mess all over the place that you must spend weeks clearing up in a foul mood. And it’s started raining.
England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario and it’s started OK for him. Their initial victory against Australia this November surpasses the results from 2024, which included three poor losses and only a basic victory over Japan as the full stop in the final week. Much was made amidst the post-series malaise that the opening trio of NZ, Australia and Boks meant the fixtures were front loaded to a fault, where a wave of disappointment followed every weekly outcome. For 2025, insights have been gained, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji offering an opportunity to reinforce the good feelings.
The English squad shows many changes compared to last week's selection, which, due to the quality in the Fiji roster, could be viewed as arrogance by the coach. But, while the islanders are no mugs by any measure, they have historically faced challenges in this matchup. Their lone win in nine tests against today's rivals came during the 2023 World Cup warm-ups.
England are also arguably the best team in the world at despatching teams they should not struggle against; they remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, and rarely lose to tier two opponents.
