Match Preview: Japan vs England

November 24, 2024
155
Ultimate Rugby

England conclude their autumn internationals against Japan at Twickenham.

Steve Borthwick's side are bidding to end a frustrating campaign on a positive note after defeats against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

It is the first time since 2018 that England have lost five in a row and first time since 2006 they have dropped three straight at home.

While Borthwick remains confident that he retains the full support and backing of the RFU, such a dismal sequence extending against what is certainly on paper the easiest game of the autumn would see serious questions surely asked of his future.

Japan have never previously beaten England but will hope to feed off their recent struggles on Sunday, with Eddie Jones’ presence as head coach of the Brave Blossoms adding another huge subplot to the game.

It is the first time that the former long-serving England boss has been back to Twickenham since his sacking after seven years in charge in December 2022, and his return comes following strong recent criticism and accusations regarding his leadership made in a serialised upcoming memoir from ex-England scrum-half Danny Care.

Jones has been back in charge of Japan for almost a year now following a disastrous second stint with his native Australia that ended in his resignation after less than 12 months following their failure to advance beyond the pool stage of the Rugby World Cup for the first time ever.

England beat an experimental Japan side 52-17 in Tokyo back in June to warm up for their summer tour of New Zealand, with the Brave Blossoms also edged out by Georgia and beaten by Italy before heavy defeats by the All Blacks and France to open the autumn were followed by a 36-20 win over Uruguay last week that came despite a second-half red card.

England vs Japan date, kick-off time and venue
England vs Japan takes place on Sunday November 24, 2024 at Allianz Stadium Twickenham, in south-west London. Kick-off is scheduled for 4:10pm GMT, which is 1:10am in the early hours of Monday morning in Japan.

It is the final match of England’s four-game autumn series after defeats by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

England vs Japan team news

England have welcomed back Tom Curry this week after he suffered his second concussion of the season against Australia and missed the defeat by the Springboks.

He replaced Charlie Ewels in Borthwick’s squad, while the injured Elliot Daly made way for Harlequins wing Cadan Murley, who starred with two tries as England ‘A’ beat their Australian counterparts 38-17 at The Stoop last weekend.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has not been cleared to return from his own concussion sustained against the Wallabies and will miss out again.

Borthwick made four changes against South Africa, with Sam Underhill and Ollie Sleightholme replacing Curry and Feyi-Waboso, and Jack van Poortvliet and Freddie Steward preferred to Ben Spencer and George Furbank at scrum-half and full-back respectively.

This week, Curry and Furbank both return, with Chandler Cunningham-South dropping to the bench as Curry goes to blindside flanker and Steward is omitted entirely. Van Poortvliet and Sleightholme both keep their places.

20-year-old Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour is poised to make his Test debut off the bench as veteran Dan Cole drops out, while George Ford is replaced by Fin Smith as fly-half cover.

Japan will be without New Zealand-born lock Warner Dearns, whose red card for a high tackle against Uruguay was upheld when he appeared before an independent disciplinary committee on Wednesday. Dearns was handed a four-match suspension, meaning he will play no part at Twickenham.

England vs Japan lineups

England XV: Furbank; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (c), Stuart; Itoje, Martin; T Curry, Underhill, Earl

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Isiekwe, Cunningham-South, Randall, F Smith, Roebuck

Japan XV: Matsunaga; Osada, Riley, Fifita, Naikabula; McCurran, Saito (c); Okabe, Harada, Takeuchi; Waqa, Uluiviti; Shimokawa, Himeno, Makisi

Replacements: Lee, Morikawa, Tamefusa, Akiyama, Tatafu, Gunter, Fujiwara, Kajimura

England vs Japan head to head (h2h) history and results

As mentioned, Japan have never beaten England in men’s rugby union and lost 52-17 in the last meeting between the two sides in Tokyo over the summer.

England have won all previous 10 matches, including a 34-12 victory in the pool stage of last year’s World Cup in France and a 52-13 thrashing at Twickenham in November 2022. They had to come from behind to win 35-15 on home soil in the autumn of 2018.

England wins: 10

Japan wins: 0

Draws: 0

England vs Japan prediction

There is no sugarcoating it - England simply have to win this weekend, and they have to win well.

Despite actually having played some impressive rugby - led by the fantastic Marcus Smith - both in the summer and so far in the autumn, they continue to let themselves down massively in the small details and fine margins that is costing them time and time again.

Their game management in the final quarter has been woeful and has to improve if results are to follow suit and the pressure on Borthwick begin to ease.

Defeat at home to a Japan team managed by Eddie Jones of all people to cap off a nightmare run of results would be quite simply unthinkable, particularly with another Six Nations campaign moving quickly into view.

England to win, by 25 points.