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Much has happened in the 27 months since Fiji were last at Twickenham and beat England. You would certainly have had decent odds back then on the home side’s reserve prop Joe Marler becoming a national TV treasure, a fever dream roughly on a par with Claudia Winkleman shaving off her hair and packing down at loosehead. Who knew?
But here we are in an increasingly parallel universe. Big Joe now has Alan Carr and Sir Stephen Fry on speed dial while England, since the 30-22 defeat in August 2023, have also undergone their own extreme makeover. Having been a team who, by the admission of their own coach early in his tenure, “weren’t good at anything” they are now hoping to extend an eight-match winning run after defeating Australia comfortably last week.
Nowadays they can make nine changes – including two new faces on the bench – and field a combination which, on paper, could be even more of an attacking handful. While Fiji have some eye-catching individuals of their own they will also have to deal with an England bench which is starting to munch through wilting opponents late on like a very hungry caterpillar.
Perhaps most valuable of all, Steve Borthwick’s squad can now beat teams in a variety of ways. To some extent that ambition has been driven by the rising pace of the game at Test level but the days of simply sticking it up the gilet have gone. Last Saturday they outplayed the Wallabies in the air and suffocated them with their stifling defence. This weekend Fiji’s big men can expect a subtly different menu.
No team with Marcus Smith at full-back, for starters, is going to sit back and simply wait for the Fijians to take the initiative. It could also be argued, with Chandler Cunningham-South at No 8, Guy Pepper and Ben Earl on the flanks, and Ollie Chessum and Alex Coles in the second row, that England have rarely named a starting pack with a more mobile back five.
Stir in the instinctive club understanding of their Northampton starting quintet – Coles, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman – plus their bleach-haired Duracell bunny Henry Pollock on the bench and there is the potential – weather permitting – for Borthwick’s reshuffled lineup to reveal a whole other dimension of themselves.
Which, of course, is specifically part of the wider grand design. While South Africa’s Rassie Erasmus is a restless innovator, Borthwick’s speciality lies in sharpening tactical gameplans to the finest of points. Now England have mastered the art of not melting away in the final reel like cinema ice-creams, they are starting to enjoy the challenge of tailoring performances to the opposition in front of them.
Borthwick had a bespoke selection plan in mind for this fixture before the Australia game, influenced by the arrival of the All Blacks in town next week. It was never going to make longer-term sense, either, for George Ford to start every week at fly-half or for Maro Itoje to play every available minute. For next week’s New Zealand encounter it is likely Itoje, Tom Curry and, probably, Ford, will all start but there is obvious mileage in fuelling competition for places elsewhere.
Regardless of who plays, though, what England fans would really love to see is the hosts playing with the handbrake fully off. Against the Wallabies, despite the convincing final scoreline, guess how many offloads they managed in 80 minutes? The answer is just four, albeit in less than ideal conditions. Along with a garnish of 16 handling errors, 16 turnovers, and 14 penalties and free-kicks conceded.
This time there should be scope for greater ambition and, specifically, getting the ball into the hands of their dangerous wide threats more often. Manny Feyi‑Waboso, likened to the supreme Jason Robinson by Kevin Sinfield this week, is too good to be restricted to a handful of shovelled passes. Likewise Henry Arundell, involved again (albeit off the bench) for the first time since the World Cup.
For various reasons England have not always felt able to spread their wings consistently but, with Lee Blackett now presiding over their attack, this is a day when, frankly, they can give it a lash without worrying unduly about the consequences. Earl at centre, Pollock on the wing and Arundell at full-back? The last quarter may involve one or two funky combinations.
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It can hardly go any worse, let’s face it, than the fateful World Cup warmup which this weekend’s run-on captain, Ellis Genge, has certainly not forgotten. “It was a bit of a rude awakening, wasn’t it?” said the British & Irish Lions prop. “We had a barbecue afterwards and it was tough. Courtney Lawes spoke and said: ‘This doesn’t define us. We’ll bounce back and be better for it.’”
That, as it turned out, is exactly what happened. Genge also detects a very different vibe to one of the previous times he captained England, two and a half years ago against France who romped away to a record 53-10 victory. “I immediately had a few boys coming up to me saying: ‘Let’s hope it goes better than last time,’” said Genge. “[But] we’re a completely different side. Not just personnel-wise but the brand of rugby … the way we play the game now is way different.”
Their defence has also tightened up significantly but do not expect one-way traffic. Fiji are ranked ninth in the world – ahead of Italy and Wales – and barely a whisker behind Scotland. If this game were being played in Suva it might be another story but there is still no imminent sign of that happening. These two sides are set to meet again next July in the new Nations Championship but it is understood that, for financial reasons, the fixture will take place in Europe.
It is just another snapshot of international rugby’s still uneven playing field. While Fiji did somehow manage to bridge that vast canyon in 2023 – and also gave England a hurry-up in the World Cup quarter-finals – that was then. Now England are back on thunder road it is hard to see lightning striking twice.
