Category: England Rugby

• ‘Japan have a distinct way of playing,’ says captain

• Steve Borthwick hails ‘weird and wonderful’ Jones

Maro Itoje has insisted England will be ready for any curveballs Eddie Jones may throw on Saturday, warning his side they cannot “sleepwalk” into battle against Japan.

Jones, England’s longest-serving head coach after his stint between 2015 and 2022, has strongly hinted he will set his side up to unsettle his former charges at Twickenham, warning that they do not like “unorthodox” rugby. The hosts are heavy favourites to back up last week’s record win over Australia with another emphatic victory and have never lost to Japan but Steve Borthwick has made 10 personnel and two positional changes, fielding an inexperienced side against that of his predecessor.

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Steve Borthwick has picked a team to excite fans – let’s see them beat the Brave Blossoms at their own game on Saturday

Based on England’s performance last week, there was part of me that thought about writing a piece that would light another fire under the squad. As predicted a week ago, England were galvanised by events leading up to the game against Australia and I cannot remember the last time when I came away from Twickenham so impressed by both the result and the performance.

Pretty much every box was ticked. It was a complete showing. Discipline was on point, the set piece went well and England scored all manner of tries. The question is, how does a much-changed team take a step up, continue to build momentum through the Nations Championship and drive things forward? It can be a challenge against a side like Japan – we only have to look back at England v Japan in 2018, it was like a cemetery for some players’ international careers.

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Steve Borthwick is ringing the changes and George Ford, despite his 108 caps, also knows he needs to perform

In Tokyo this week the police have been seeking to help newly arrived visitors from overseas. Several local bar and restaurant managers have been arrested for targeting and ripping off unwary tourists who had walked into their establishments in good faith. Unfortunately for Japan’s rugby players, as they prepare to enter England’s chilly lair, there is no such reciprocal deal to protect them from a collective south-west London mugging on Saturday afternoon.

Instead they will be required to fend for themselves, with the odds heavily stacked in the home team’s favour. England have racked up a half-century of points against the Brave Blossoms in both their two most recent meetings – and that was before rugby’s try-scoring rates began ratcheting upwards. Japan’s arrival also neatly intersects with their hosts’ desire to build on the momentum of last Sunday’s 45-22 win over Australia.

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• Just three retained in same positions from Australia game

• ‘We want the very best of every one of these guys,’ says Itoje

England’s World Cup hopefuls have been warned not to go off script when auditioning for a place on the plane next year after Steve Borthwick rang the changes to his side to face Japan on Saturday, handing starts to rookies Will Joseph and Max Ojomoh as well as Henry Pollock.

Borthwick has made 10 personnel and two positional changes to his team to play Eddie Jones’s side with a glut of injuries, a handful of players in need of a rest and the head coach’s determination to give those such as Joseph and Ojomoh, who line up on the right wing and inside centre respectively, the chance to shine. Pollock makes his second start, coming in at No 8, while the Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland is in line for a debut from the bench.

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Japan head coach was criticised for discarding players harshly during his Red Rose tenure but that tough love has paid off for some

To listen to Eddie Jones chewing the fat on assorted podcasts this week is to admire the enduring thickness of his coaching skin. The old crocodile smile is still intact too, along with his sense of humour after an interaction in a lift with a fan after his Japan side’s 28-21 weekend defeat in Cardiff. As Jones later confided: “This Welsh bloke came up to me and said: ‘You almost look human with your glasses on.’”

Next up is a reunion with a few former friends – and foes – at Twickenham. While it is now almost four years since Jones was sacked by the Rugby Football Union, there remain mixed emotions on both sides. Those relieved to see him go in late 2022 will certainly not be too brokenhearted if there is a similar outcome to the last time a Jones-coached Japan came to Allianz Stadium two years ago and lost 59-14.

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• England require back-line reshuffle after several injuries

• Kevin Sinfield says collaboration with clubs will be key

England need to find a talented understudy for their injured star wing Manny Feyi-Waboso, and are poised to invite Gloucester’s Will Joseph to audition for a ­leading role against Japan on Saturday. The latter was a travelling reserve for last ­weekend’s Australia game and appears set for a Test recall four years after being given his debut by the current Brave ­Blossoms head coach, Eddie Jones.

The 24-year-old Joseph, whose brother Jonathan was a regular in England’s midfield for years, has been in outstanding club form and, as things stand, seems likely to ­feature in some capacity with injuries ­forcing Steve Borthwick to reconsider the backline blend that prospered against the Wallabies.

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• Wing Feyi-Waboso sustained ankle injury on Sunday

• Tom Curry out for rest of November with hip injury

England have been rocked by multiple injury blows after Immanuel Feyi‑Waboso and Tom Curry were ruled out of the rest of their autumn campaign. George Furbank, Ollie Chessum and Seb Atkinson are also expected to miss the clash with Japan on Saturday, with the two-try hero Henry Pollock in line for a rare start in a much-changed XV.

Feyi-Waboso sustained an ankle injury in the first half of the 45-22 victory against Australia on Sunday and will miss games against Japan, New Zealand and England’s match on finals weekend. Tom Curry, who sustained a hip injury while ­training last week, is also out for the rest of November.

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Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman and George Furbank can make an impact at the World Cup next year, providing they can stay fit

Rugby, at its heart, is a simple game. Win the collisions and you’ll more than likely win the match. Rule the skies, own the floor and the chances are you’ll end up on the right side of the ledger. Put square pegs in square holes and you can achieve the sort of attacking fluidity required for a record score against Australia. The complicated bit, once you stop trying to put them in round holes, is keeping those square pegs fit.

England’s emphatic win against the Wallabies on Sunday was the first time in two years Borthwick has been able to field a back three of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman and George Furbank. It was also the first time they have lined up with 11, 14 and 15 on their respective backs.

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Sunday’s hosts need to stop looking for excuses and focus on what they can control to kick off the Nations Championsip against battle-hardened Australia

Several things are increasingly guaranteed from an English rugby perspective around this time of year. Bang on cue the injury news and the weather both start to worsen. Cracks in the relationship between the players and their head coach, in this case Steve Borthwick, begin to surface. And as the crowds stream up from Twickenham railway station past the biltong and burger stalls, no one has much idea what to expect.

This year it has been the same old story. Particularly on the injury front. If Tom Curry, Alex Mitchell and Archie McParland had not all been hurt on the Bagshot training pitch, all three would probably be in England’s matchday 23. With Guy Pepper, Benhard van Rensburg, Sam Underhill, Kepu Tuipulotu and Chandler Cunningham-South also out of the running, the squad is not quite as fizzing with energy and dynamism as it might be.

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• Maro Itoje captains England after missing summer Tests

• Concerns Tom Curry may miss all Nations Championship

Fin Smith has successfully come through his final fitness Test to be named at fly-half for England’s autumn opener against Australia while Ben Curry is selected at openside flanker for the first time since the summer of 2025.

Steve Borthwick has made four changes to the side that beat Argentina in July with George Furbank also coming in at fullback, Maro Itoje returning to captain the side and Fin Baxter getting the nod at loosehead prop. The Exeter back-row Greg Fisilau is in line for a debut from the bench.

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• RFU chief Bill Sweeney offers full support to Borthwick

• England boosted by fly-half Fin Smith returning to training

Steve Borthwick has been given the Rugby Football Union’s ­unequivocal backing to lead England into next year’s World Cup even if the side flop this autumn.

In September Borthwick’s contract was extended to after the 2028 Six Nations, despite England’s worst ever Six Nations performance this year, to avoid speculation in the buildup to next year’s tournament. But the head coach remains under pressure on the back of five defeats in the last seven matches.

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• Smith’s calf injury to be tested in training on Wednesday

• Alex Mitchell ruled out of Nations Championship finals

Fin Smith faces a make-or-break training session on Wednesday to prove his fitness for the No 10 jersey in England’s autumn opener against Australia on Sunday, amid cautious optimism the Northampton playmaker will come through unscathed.

Smith sustained a calf injury in Northampton’s derby defeat by Leicester last month and the England head coach, Steve Borthwick, has been sweating on his fitness ever since. Smith’s Northampton half-back partner, Alex Mitchell, meanwhile, has been ruled out of England’s entire autumn campaign owing to his latest hamstring injury.

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• Scrum-half out of game against Australia on Sunday

• Wallabies match followed by New Zealand and Japan

The Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell has been ruled out of England’s November opener against Australia on Sunday, with Bristol’s Harry Randall and Bath’s Ben Spencer called into the squad named by the head coach, Steve Borthwick.

Mitchell, established as the first‑choice No 9 under Borthwick, damaged a hamstring in Northampton’s Prem win against Gloucester on Saturday and will have a scan on Tuesday to determine the extent of the injury.

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• Bath flanker Pepper injured ankle at Gloucester on Friday

• Bristol’s Van Rensburg advised to rest after two concussions

England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, said he will be monitoring this weekend’s domestic Prem games with some trepidation. Already he has lost at least two potentially key squad members for the entire autumn period in the form of Guy Pepper and Benhard van Rensburg, with doubts still hanging over his first-choice fly-half, Fin Smith, and fresh injury uncertainty emerging on virtually a daily basis.

Pepper’s involvement always looked improbable from the moment he sustained a nasty-looking ankle injury against Gloucester last Friday. The young Bath flanker will be sidelined for several weeks, as will the Bristol centre Van Rensburg who has been advised to rest and recuperate after two heavy concussions within the past three months.

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Nations Championship games against Australia and Japan should be the end of experimentation for Steve Borthwick

Even on the most serene days no one would describe coaching England as a relaxing gig. With his side’s opening November Test looming on Sunday week, Steve Borthwick is already faced with assorted injury-related complications at precisely the moment he needs to start finding lasting answers to a range of fundamental selection questions.

The untimely training field absence of Fin Smith, pencilled in to be England’s starting No 10, is a prime example. With the two leading midfield candidates to face Australia – Seb Atkinson and Bernhard Janse van Rensburg – also unable to train this week, Smith’s calf injury has materialised at the worst possible moment. Add the Bath flanker Guy Pepper, who limped off against Gloucester last Friday, and suddenly there is a hint of pre-Halloween gloom hanging over England’s preparations.

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