England v the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Match Analysis

Similar to the silver birches around my home during this season, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. Their appeal stems from transformations and natural progress, before the inevitable atrophying dumps of loads of mess all over the place demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. And it’s started raining.

Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative and it’s started OK for him. The first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series marks an improvement compared to last year, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan acting as the final note in the closing 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. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.

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. However, even though the Fijians are far from pushovers, they often find it tough in encounters with England. 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.