England vs the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Overview
Match Updates
Preamble
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 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 the beginning has been favorable for him. The first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series surpasses the results from 2024, 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 that facing NZ, Australia, and Springboks first created an excessively tough start, where a wave of disappointment followed every weekly outcome. For 2025, insights have been gained, 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, 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 have historically faced challenges in this matchup. 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 remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.
