The English Team vs Fiji – Autumn Nations Series Preview
Match Updates
Preamble
Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, England in the autumn are a mixed offering. 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 that you must spend weeks clearing up in a foul mood. Plus, the rain has begun to fall.
Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative and the beginning has been favorable for him. The opening win over Australia in this year’s November marks an improvement compared to last year, 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 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 win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.
England has fielded a significantly altered lineup from the previous week, which given the class sprinkled throughout the Fiji squad could be be seen as hubris from Borthwick. But, while the islanders are no mugs by any measure, they have historically faced challenges in this matchup. Their lone win in nine tests against today's rivals came during the 2023 World Cup warm-ups.
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.
