The English Team versus the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Preview

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, the English side during fall presents a varied display. They often appear impressive because of shifts and organic growth, ahead of the certain deterioration that results in widespread disarray that you must spend weeks clearing up in a foul mood. And it’s started raining.

Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative and it’s started OK for him. The opening win over Australia in this year’s November marks an improvement compared to last year, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan acting as the final note in the closing 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 providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.

It’s a much changed England team from last week, 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. 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; for instance, they are the sole team never beaten by Italy in the Six Nations, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.