England versus the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Preview

Similar to the silver birches around my home during this season, the English side during fall presents a varied display. 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. Plus, the rain has begun to fall.

Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative and the beginning has been favorable for him. Their initial victory against Australia this November is already better than 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan as the full stop in the final 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, 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 offering an opportunity to reinforce the good feelings.

England has fielded a significantly altered lineup from the previous week, and considering the talent present in the Fijian team, this might appear overconfident from Borthwick. However, even though the Fijians are far from pushovers, they are perennial strugglers in this fixture. Their lone win in nine tests against today's rivals came during the 2023 World Cup warm-ups.

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.