England tormented Japan (59-14) this Sunday at Twickenham with nine tries which healed the wounds of the XV de la Rose, affected by a long sequence of defeats since last summer.
First victory since June
Steve Borthwick’s team recovered after three losses in a row in November at home, against New Zealand (24-22), Australia (42-37) and South Africa ( 29-20). In total, the semi-finalists of the 2023 World Cup had five consecutive defeats, adding the double setback suffered against the All Blacks in July (16-15 then 24-17).
The Japan of Eddie Jones, ex-England coach, was the ideal guest and the locals took the opportunity to improve their morale as well as their offensive statistics. They scored five tries before half-time by Ben Earl (9th), Sam Underhill (14th), Ollie Sleightholme (37th) and by captain and hooker Jamie George, who scored two (23rd, 31st). His replacement, Luke Cowan-Dickie, imitated him (60th, 65th) during a second half again accomplished, where the English scored four tries in total. The best part came from a superb pass behind the back from Tommy Freeman for George Furbank (54th).
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The Japanese managed to cross the goal line twice by Naoto Saito (34th, 28-7) and Kazuki Himeno (62nd, 45-14).
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