The English Team versus the Fijian Squad – Autumn Nations Series Match Analysis

Much like the silver birches in my neighborhood in autumn, the English side during fall presents a varied display. How lovely they can look due to the changes and natural developments, prior to the unavoidable decline that leaves chaos in its wake that you must spend weeks clearing up in a foul mood. And it’s started raining.

Steve Borthwick will powerfully wish to change this picture and the beginning has been favorable for him. The opening win over Australia in this year’s November is already better than 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 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. This year, valuable lessons have been absorbed, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with Fiji as a chance to consolidate the positive vibes.

England has fielded a significantly altered lineup from the previous 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. 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; they remain the only side undefeated by Italy in the Six Nations for example, and rarely lose to tier two opponents.