The pressure is on Steve Borthwick with his charges staring down the barrel of four defeats from four home fixtures. While Japan will be a step down in class from the sides his team has lost to already in November, he'll need to be cautious with his former boss Eddie Jones coming to town this Sunday.
Autumn Nation Series
England v Japan
Sunday 24 November, 18:10
Twickenham, London
The pressure is well and truly on Steve Borthwick with his England side having lost three on spin in the Autumn Nations Series. Defeat against Japan – although unlikely – would probably cost him his job.
To Win Match
England N/A | Draw 58/1 | Japan 14/1
Handicap
England (-34.5) 9/10 | Japan (+34.5) 9/10
The naysayers are growing in numbers after England slumped to yet another defeat this past weekend leaving them at just four wins from 11 starts this year, with two of those wins coming against Japan and Italy.
In fairness to Borthwick, his side have given a decent account of themselves but they simply cannot get over the line in 2024. They lost by margins of five points or fewer on four occasions this year and their heaviest defeat has been by only nine points going down to Scotland by that margin in the Six Nations and then to South Africa by the same points line this past weekend.
The problem for the English mentor lies in his appalling win rate, which has seen the former big guns of Europe drop to their lowest-ever IRB ranking of eighth. It could get worse for them this weekend should Japan pull off a major shock like they did against South Africa on English shores almost a decade ago.
There will be a bit of relief in the English camp that this vintage of Brave Blossoms seems to be wilting during Eddie Jone’s second stewardship. Like their opponents for Saturday, Japan’s win/loss ratio for the 2024 season is poor with the Asians only recording four wins from their ten fixtures. They were also made to work hard for the weekend with a dogged Uruguayan side giving them a real run for their money with a couple late second-half tries sparing Japanese blushes.
Borthwick left his team selection late with the under-fire England mentor set to name his squad on Saturday morning. He’s called up Tom Curry for this one and suspects he’ll be immediately put into the run-on XV. One man who won’t be available for this clash is Eliot Daily who has been ruled out due to injury. On the Japanese front, Warner Dearns is likely to miss out having received a red card for a high shot against Uruguay.
Verdict: England (-34.5) 9/10
This will likely be the game that spares Borthwick his job for the next couple months. England have been dire this term but for my money Japan have been worse and I feel the visitors are in for a big defeat here.
