The English Team vs the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Preview

Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, England's autumn performances show a blend of highs and lows. Their appeal stems from transformations and natural progress, prior to the unavoidable decline that leaves chaos in its wake demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. Plus, the rain has begun to fall.

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 surpasses the results from 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan as the full stop in the final week. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump that facing NZ, Australia, and Springboks first created an excessively tough start, where a wave of disappointment followed every weekly outcome. For 2025, insights have been gained, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.

It’s a much changed England team from last week, which, due to the quality in the Fiji roster, could be viewed as arrogance by the coach. Yet, despite the island nation's undeniable skill, 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.

England are also arguably the best team in the world at despatching teams they should not struggle against; they remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.