Fiji carry national pride into redemption match

England's opponents on Saturday are rising in the world rankings and out to avenge defeat at World Cup

- Luke McLaughlin

Fiji's wing Jiuta Wainiqolo in action against Australia in July

True, they are the lowest-ranked team England will play this month, but it would be highly dangerous to underestimate Fiji. Coming between an opening victory against Australia and a box-office encounter with the All Blacks, it might be easy to regard the Twickenham game on Saturday as a relatively straightforward assignment. Easy, but foolish.

You don't have to go back far - two years or so, to an autumn afternoon in Marseille and England's 2023 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal - to remember how potent Fiji can be as England ultimately scraped through with a six-point win. This came weeks after Fiji made history at Twickenham, beating England for the first time in a pre-tournament warm-up game. That amounted to England's sixth defeat in nine during the shaky beginning of Steve Borthwick's reign. It was difficult then to imagine them progressing to a semifinal defeat by the Springboks.