England v the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Preview

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, 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 now, precipitation has commenced.

Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative and the beginning has been favorable for him. The opening win over Australia in this year’s November surpasses the results from 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over 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, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji as a chance to consolidate the positive vibes.

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. Yet, despite the island nation's undeniable skill, 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.

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 they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.