England vs the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Preview

Similar to the silver birches around my home during this season, England's autumn performances show a blend of highs and lows. Their appeal stems from transformations and natural progress, before the inevitable atrophying dumps of loads of mess all over the place demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. Plus, the rain has begun to fall.

Steve Borthwick will powerfully wish to change this picture with a decent start already under his belt. 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 acting as the final note in the closing week. Much was made amidst the post-series malaise that the opening trio of NZ, Australia and Boks meant the fixtures were front loaded to a fault, and a trend of unhappiness trailed each match result. This year, valuable lessons have been absorbed, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against 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 often find it tough in encounters with England. A win in the 2023 World Cup warm up games their solitary victory in nine tests vs today’s opposition.

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, and they seldom fall to lower-tier nations.