England versus the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Preview
Match Updates
Introduction
Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England's autumn performances show a blend of highs and lows. How lovely they can look due to the changes and natural developments, before the inevitable atrophying dumps of loads of mess all over the place demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. And it’s started raining.
England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario with a decent start already under his belt. The first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series surpasses the results from 2024, which included three poor losses and only a basic victory over Japan as the full stop in the final week. There was extensive talk following the series downturn that facing NZ, Australia, and Springboks first created an excessively tough start, with a momentum of misery accompanying each week’s 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.
The English squad shows many changes compared to last week's selection, 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 have historically faced challenges in this matchup. A win in the 2023 World Cup warm up games their solitary victory in nine tests vs today’s opposition.
England is perhaps the top team globally when it comes to defeating sides they are expected to beat; for instance, they are the sole team never beaten by Italy in the Six Nations, and they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.
