The English Team versus the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Overview

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, England's autumn performances show a blend of highs and lows. They often appear impressive because of shifts and organic growth, before the inevitable atrophying dumps of loads of mess all over the place which requires weeks of cleanup amid frustration. 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 surpasses the results from 2024, a period featuring three dismal defeats interrupted by a routine win against 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, and a trend of unhappiness trailed each match result. In 2025 lessons have been learned, as the victory over Australia is now followed by today's game versus Fiji offering an opportunity to reinforce the good feelings.

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. 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, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.