England vs Japan Preview & Prediction | 2026 Nations Championship | Round 5
by Trystan Pugh ·
Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
Eddie Jones’ Japan head to Twickenham on Saturday to face the England side he once coached.
Start date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – ITV / USA – Not televised
How to watch online: UK – ITVX / USA – RugbyPass TV
England team news: Feyi-Waboso and Curry ruled out
Squad: Freddie Steward; Will Joseph, Henry Slade, Max Ojomoh, Cadan Murley; George Ford, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Asher Opoku-Fordjour; Maro Itoje (capt), George Martin; Alex Coles, Ben Earl, Henry Pollock
Replacements: Theo Dan, Emmanuel Iyogun, Joe Heyes, Arthur Clark, Ben Curry, Greg Fisilau, Archie McParland, Marcus Smith
Japan team news: Kitahara keeps fly-half spot
Squad: Kazuma Ueda; Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Samisoni Tua, Riku Tokito; Riku Kitahara, Naoto Saito (capt); Yota Kamimori, Mamoru Harada, Shuhei Takeuchi; Harry Hockings, Warner Dearns (capt); Ben Gunter, Kanji Shimokawa, Jack Cornelsen
Replacements: Kenji Sato, Sojiro Otsuka, Opeti Helu, Michael Stolberg, Tiennan Costley, Shinobu Fujiwara, Shinya Komura, Jisu Lee
Who will win?
Open poll and resultsEngland vs Japan prediction
England are second in the Northern Hemisphere table on 15 points after beating Australia 45-22 at Twickenham last weekend. Henry Pollock scored twice off the bench in that game after Immanuel Feyi-Waboso went off injured, and he starts in the back row this time, while Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry are both out for the rest of the competition.
Japan have just five points after a 28-21 defeat against Wales, a game they were still in right up until the end. Eddie Jones's side are undoubtedly the underdogs against the side he used to coach, but he wants them to cause chaos at Twickenham and he will certainly know how to rattle Steve Borthwick’s side.
The underdog tag is fair. Japan have conceded 116 points in four games, and England scored 73 against Fiji in July, so a home win looks a formality. Borthwick has made ten changes though, with the All Blacks next up in Round 6, and a margin beyond 31 points is a lot to ask against a Japan side who were within seven points of Wales last weekend. We are backing Japan with a +31 handicap.
England vs Japan tip: Japan to win with +31 handicap
