The English Team versus Fiji – Fall International Rugby Preview
Game Coverage
Introduction
Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England's autumn performances show a blend of highs and lows. 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.
Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative with a decent start already under his belt. Their initial victory against Australia this November is already better than 2024, which included three poor losses and only a basic victory over Japan as the full stop in the final week. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump that facing NZ, Australia, and Springboks first created an excessively tough start, where a wave of disappointment followed every weekly outcome. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.
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.
The English side is widely regarded as the most efficient in dispatching opponents they ought to overcome easily; they remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, and rarely lose to tier two opponents.
