The English Team vs Fiji – Autumn Nations Series Overview

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. How lovely they can look due to the changes and natural developments, 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.

Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative with a decent start already under his belt. The first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series surpasses the results from 2024, a period featuring three dismal defeats interrupted by a routine win against Japan serving as the conclusion in the last week. There was extensive talk following the series downturn 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. This year, valuable lessons have been absorbed, as the victory over Australia is now followed by today's game versus Fiji offering an opportunity to reinforce the good feelings.

It’s a much changed England team from last week, 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 often find it tough in encounters with England. A win in the 2023 World Cup warm up games their solitary victory in nine tests vs today’s opposition.

England are also arguably the best team in the world at despatching teams they should not struggle against; for instance, they are the sole team never beaten by Italy in the Six Nations, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.