England vs Fiji – Autumn Nations Series Preview

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, England's autumn performances show a blend of highs and lows. How lovely they can look due to the changes and natural developments, ahead of the certain deterioration that results in widespread disarray 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 with a decent start already under his belt. Their initial victory against Australia this November 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. Considerable discussion occurred during the post-series slump that the opening trio of NZ, Australia and Boks meant the fixtures were front loaded to a fault, with a momentum of misery accompanying each week’s result. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the win over the Wallabies followed with today’s outing against Fiji as a chance to consolidate the positive vibes.

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. 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.

England is perhaps the top team globally when it comes to defeating sides they are expected to beat; for instance, they are the sole team never beaten by Italy in the Six Nations, and rarely lose to tier two opponents.