England vs the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Overview

Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, the English side during fall presents a varied display. Their appeal stems from transformations and natural progress, prior to the unavoidable decline that leaves chaos in its wake which requires weeks of cleanup amid frustration. And it’s started raining.

England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario and the beginning has been favorable for him. The opening win over Australia in this year’s November is already better than 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan serving as the conclusion in the last week. Much was made amidst the post-series malaise 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. This year, valuable lessons have been absorbed, as the victory over Australia is now followed by today's game versus Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.

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 are perennial strugglers in this fixture. A win in the 2023 World Cup warm up games their solitary victory in nine tests vs today’s opposition.

England are also arguably the best team in the world at despatching teams they should not struggle against; for instance, they are the sole team never beaten by Italy in the Six Nations, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.