England versus Fiji – Autumn Nations Series Preview
Game Coverage
Preamble
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 now, precipitation has commenced.
England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario and it’s started OK for him. The opening win over Australia in this year’s 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. Much was made amidst the post-series malaise regarding how the initial matches against New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa made the schedule overly challenging, and a trend of unhappiness trailed each match result. For 2025, insights have been gained, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji as a chance to consolidate the positive vibes.
England has fielded a significantly altered lineup from the previous week, and considering the talent present in the Fijian team, this might appear overconfident from Borthwick. Yet, despite the island nation's undeniable skill, they are perennial strugglers in this fixture. Their lone win in nine tests against today's rivals came during the 2023 World Cup warm-ups.
England is perhaps the top team globally when it comes to defeating sides they are expected to beat; they remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, and they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.
