England vs the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Overview

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. They often appear impressive because of shifts and organic growth, before the inevitable atrophying dumps of loads of mess all over the place that you must spend weeks clearing up in a foul mood. Plus, the rain has begun to fall.

England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario with a decent start already under his belt. The opening win over Australia in this year’s November surpasses the results from 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan serving as the conclusion in the last week. There was extensive talk following the series downturn regarding how the initial matches against New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa made the schedule overly challenging, where a wave of disappointment followed every weekly outcome. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with Fiji as a chance to consolidate the positive vibes.

England has fielded a significantly altered lineup from the previous week, which, due to the quality in the Fiji roster, could be viewed as arrogance by the coach. But, while the islanders are no mugs by any measure, 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 is perhaps the top team globally when it comes to defeating sides they are expected to beat; they remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, and rarely lose to tier two opponents.