The English Team versus Fiji – Fall International Rugby Overview
Match Updates
Introduction
Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, 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 demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. And it’s started raining.
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 is already better than 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan acting as the final note in the closing week. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump that facing NZ, Australia, and Springboks first created an excessively tough start, with a momentum of misery accompanying each week’s 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.
The English squad shows many changes compared to last week's selection, and considering the talent present in the Fijian team, this might appear overconfident from Borthwick. But, while the islanders are no mugs by any measure, 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.
