England versus Fiji – Fall International Rugby Preview

Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. They often appear impressive because of shifts and organic growth, ahead of the certain deterioration that results in widespread disarray which requires weeks of cleanup amid frustration. Plus, the rain has begun to fall.

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, which included three poor losses and only a basic victory over Japan as the full stop in the final week. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump regarding how the initial matches against New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa made the schedule overly challenging, with a momentum of misery accompanying each week’s result. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji offering an opportunity to reinforce the good feelings.

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. However, even though the Fijians are far from pushovers, they have historically faced challenges in this matchup. Their lone win in nine tests against today's rivals came during the 2023 World Cup warm-ups.

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.