England hammer Japan to end vexing autumn on high

After a November of frets and frustration came a chance for fun and frolics for England.

- HARRY LATHAM-COYLE

Few questions may have been answered about this England team in this Twickenham thrashing, but at least we know that Steve Borthwick’s side can beat Japan: a 5914 slaying of their visitors ended a run of five successive defeats since they last put their callow opponents to the sword in June.

There was no need for any final-quarter quivers or quibbles after the sort of ruthless, rollicking performance that Steve Borthwick would have demanded. The England head coach had ventured nothing in the search of longer-term gain, naming a first-choice side and tasking them with releasing their autumn angst and anger on an overmatched Japan. They duly obliged, piling points and pain on Eddie Jones, a polarising preacher unable to cause further upset in his past parish.

It was a professional performance that the hosts simply had to deliver given the strength of the side Borthwick had named. In doing that, the England head coach missed an opportunity to further assess the depth of his squad. While Borthwick pointed out in the week that the exciting 20-year-old prop Asher OpokuFordjour, who made his debut off the bench here, was his ninth Test newbie of the year, this felt like a missed chance for a some extra experimentation.

There certainly felt like no need for Tom Curry to feature two weeks after another concussion, while England have gone a whole calendar year with Jamie George as their only run-on captain. Might an opportunity for Maro Itoje to lead from the start have been beneficial down the line? It felt like little was gleaned from this final outing of the year.

England would no doubt argue, quite correctly, that a win was a must at this moment, and that they still have new combinations to bed in. Another game in Joe El-Abd’s tweaked defensive system will help ease some of the starkly evident teething problems, while continuing improvements in attacking connection and confidence reaped rewards in a free-flowing, free-scoring showing.