England versus the Fijian Squad – Fall International Rugby Match Analysis

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 demanding extensive tidying efforts while feeling irritable. And it’s started raining.

Steve Borthwick is determined to alter this narrative with a decent start already under his belt. The first triumph over the Wallabies in the current autumn series surpasses the results from 2024, when three miserable losses were punctuated by a bog-standard win over Japan serving as the conclusion in the last 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. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with Fiji providing a moment to solidify the optimistic atmosphere.

The English squad shows many changes compared to last week's selection, which given the class sprinkled throughout the Fiji squad could be be seen as hubris from Borthwick. However, even though the Fijians are far from pushovers, they often find it tough in encounters with England. 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, and rarely lose to tier two opponents.