England vs Japan Preview: Team News & Prediction | 2024 Autumn Internationals

by Trystan Pugh · November 23 2024, 15:08

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After five defeats on the bounce, England need a confidence-boosting victory to finish off their 2024 match calendar and Japan could prove the perfect opponent in that respect.

Start date/time: Sunday 24th November, 2024, UK – 4:10pm / US ET – 11:10am / US PT – 8:10am

How to watch on tv: UK – TNT Sports / US – Peacock

How to watch online: UK – discovery+ / US – Peacock

England Form: Five defeats on the spin

It has now five straight defeats for England, who have fallen into the unwanted habit of losing close games, most recently against South Africa last week in a match that they could easily have won had they been more clinical in the final third.

England’s last victory came against Sunday’s opponents, Steve Borthwick’s men defeating Japan 52-17 back in July, and they really need a repeat performance here to end the year on a positive note.

Last Five: LLLLL

Japan form: Unconvincing

Although Japan defeated Uruguay 36-20 last weekend, former England coach Eddie Jones still has a lot of work to do to improve this Japan team, especially in defence where they are conceding far too many points.

Prior to the win over Uruguay, Japan had suffered heavy defeats to France, New Zealand and Fiji and Jones is yet to really imprint his style since taking the reigns earlier this year.

Last Five: WLLLW

England Team News: Only two changes after Springboks defeat

Squad: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Tom Roebuck

Japan Team News: Dylan Riley back in

Squad: 15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Tomoki Osada, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita, 11 Jone Naikabula, 10 Nicholas McCurran, 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Faulua Makisi, 7 Kazuki Himeno, 6 Kanji Shimokawa, 5 Epineri Uluiviti, 4 Sanaila Waqa, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Takato Okabe

Replacements: 16 Seunghyuk Lee, 17 Yukio Morikawa, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Daichi Akiyama, 20 Tevita Tatafu, 21 Ben Gunter, 22 Shinobu Fujiwara, 23 Yusuke Kajimura

England vs Japan Prediction

It’s been a frustrating Autumn Nations Series for England, whose pattern of losing close games continued with defeat to the Springboks last week. They will look to take their frustrations out in this clash with Japan, who have displayed plenty of defensive vulnerabilities in their recent tests.

Steve Borthwick has named a strong side for England’s final match of the year, and it could be a sobering return to Twickenham for Japan head coach Eddie Jones.