England v the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Match Analysis

Similar to the silver birches around my home during this season, the English side during fall presents a varied display. 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. And now, precipitation has commenced.

England's coach Steve Borthwick aims to transform this scenario and it’s started OK for him. The first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series surpasses the results from 2024, which included three poor losses and only a basic victory over Japan serving as the conclusion in the last week. There was extensive talk following the series downturn 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.

The English squad shows many changes compared to last week's selection, 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. Their lone win in nine tests against today's rivals came during the 2023 World Cup warm-ups.

The English side is widely regarded as the most efficient in dispatching opponents they ought to overcome easily; they hold the distinction of being unbeaten against Italy in the Six Nations, and they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.