The English Team vs Fiji – Autumn Nations Series Overview

Like the silver birches near my house at this time of year, the English side during fall presents a varied display. They often appear impressive because of shifts and organic growth, ahead of the certain deterioration that results in widespread disarray 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 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 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. In 2025 lessons have been learned, with the success against the Wallabies leading into the current match with 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 have historically faced challenges in this matchup. Only one victory in nine matches versus England occurred in the 2023 World Cup preparatory games.

England are also arguably the best team in the world at despatching teams they should not struggle against; they hold the distinction of being unbeaten against Italy in the Six Nations, with infrequent losses to second-tier teams.