England v Fiji – Autumn Nations Series Overview

Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. How lovely they can look due to the changes and natural developments, ahead of the certain deterioration that results in widespread disarray 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 first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series 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. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump that the opening trio of NZ, Australia and Boks meant the fixtures were front loaded to a fault, where a wave of disappointment followed every weekly outcome. In 2025 lessons have been learned, as the victory over Australia is now followed by today's game versus Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.

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 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 is perhaps the top team globally when it comes to defeating sides they are expected to beat; they hold the distinction of being unbeaten against Italy in the Six Nations, and they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.