England hammer Japan to finish autumn on a high
Ben Earl scored his first try of England’s Autumn Nation Series campaign
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Published
England (35) 59
Tries: Earl, Underhill, George 2, Sleightholme, Furbank, Cowan-Dickie 2, Roebuck Cons: M Smith 7
Japan (7) 14
Tries: Saito, Himeno Cons: Saito, Matsunaga
England ended their five-match losing run with a nine-try hammering of Eddie Jones’ Japan at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
The victory marked a first and only win of a difficult Autumn Nation Series campaign for Steve Borthwick’s side after close defeats by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Captain Jamie George scored twice in a clinical opening period, which saw Ben Earl, Sam Underhill and Ollie Sleightholme also grab tries.
The Brave Blossoms managed one eye-catching score in the first half through captain Naoto Saito.
Full-back George Furbank gathered Tommy Freeman’s sublime behind-the-back pass to score England’s sixth try in the second half, before replacement hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie burrowed over the line for the first of his two tries.
Flanker Kazuki Himeno’s try gave Jones’ side a deserved second-half score, but the hosts finished the strongest with Tom Roebuck adding to Cowan-Dickie’s score for his first international try.
It was Borthwick’s side’s first win since June when they comfortably beat Japan 52-17 in Tokyo.
Former England head coach Jones, who was sacked by the Rugby Football Union in 2022 and later replaced by Borthwick, kept a low profile in the build-up to his return, having been in charge during England’s joint-worst run since 2018 of five straight defeats.
More to follow.
Line-ups
England: Furbank; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, T Curry, Underhill, Earl.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Isiekwe, Cunningham-South, Randall, F Smith, Roebuck.
Japan: Matsunaga; Osada, Riley, Fifita, Naikabula; McCurran, Saito; Okabe, Lee, Takeuchi, Waqa, Uluiviti, Shimokawa, Himeno, Makisi.
Replacements: Matsuoka, Morikawa, Tamefusa, Akiyama, Tatafu, Gunter, Fujiwara, Kajimura.
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant Referee 2: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
