Key events
61 min: Joe Heyes, another new arrival, snatches the ball out of the air and looks to put England on the attack once again. Maro Itoje – who has had a fine, busy game – is soon to depart.
58 min: Steve Borthwick is starting to ring the changes. Marcus Smith is among the new entrants – Joseph has a chance to become the first England player to score his six tries in a game. If he doesn’t get brought off with an eye on the All Blacks to play next weekend.
TRY! England 61-15 Japan (Joseph)
Will Joseph has a record-equalling five tries for England! That was all his own handiwork, he intercepted a Japan pass and just races through clear to touch down. Ford kicks the extras.
YELLOW CARD! Cowan-Dickie (England)
Luke Cowan-Dickie is in the sin-bin. Now it’s England who are down to 14 players – can Japan build on their impressive second half?
Perhaps not …
53 min: Michael Stolberg almost breaks clear for Japan! He appeared in acres of space running for the line but his running is laboured and Pollock chases back to tackle him.
52 min: England on the attack once more – but Japan this time win the ball back and kick it clear. They look a bit more organised and/or fired up in this half.
50 min: England give away possession again and for the first time in the game you’d say Japan have a real spell of pressure. They’re in England’s half and searching for openings. But Itoje strips the ball in the tackle, finely done.
48 min: Archie McParland is on for his England debut, replacing Jack van Poortvliet! Can Archie get in on the attacking action?
TRY! England 54-15 Japan (Helu)
Newcomer Opeti Helu gives England a taste of their own medicine! Japan get the ball moving quickly and the prop Helu powers over – the conversion misses.
46 min: Japan change their hooker just before their own lineout. Huh. They’re inside their own half – is the Brave Blossom’s usually excellent lineout working at least? Yes, they collect.
TRY! England 54-10 Japan (Martin)
George Martin drives over – the fifth Beatle grabbing England’s ninth try! Too easy, really, he just battered his way through Japan’s defence from close range.
44 min: England power towards the try-line surely they will breakthrough again …
43 min: Japan lose possession, it’s been a scrappy start – but a laser-accurate kick from George Ford puts the visitors on the back foot.
41 min: Japan’s scrum – it collapses and they get a free-kick. Can Japan test England’s defence which didn’t look airtight the one time they were seriously tested in the first half?
Second half
England receive the ball to get us back under way! The hosts are unchanged.
The teams are coming back out on to the pitch – Eddie Jones may have had a few things to say things to Japan about their defending.
“Upset?” asks Gary Naylor (referring, I should say before you start worrying about his sanity, to Wales’s sublime display against the All Blacks rather than this game). “I’m no rugby expert, but is that the biggest single match upset in the sport? In all sport? Feels top 10 for sure.”
It is gigantic. I know New Zealand had made some changes from the win in Scotland, but still. Nobody was predicting that.
Michael Aylwin was in Cardiff to witness history if you want to read his report before the second half.
“Ill-phrased, admittedly, but isn’t this a bit – well – pointless?” asks Andrew Sparrow by email. “The triumphalist TV commentary isn’t great either – we’re just kicking away a blind man’s stick.”
It isn’t pretty for Japan. You can’t blame England’s players, of course – they all want and need to impress, win and entertain a packed stadium. But it was astonishingly one-sided.
HALF-TIME: England 49-10 Japan
Just the eight tries for the visitors – half of them by Will Joseph. Breathless stuff, Japan were overrun.
TRY! England 49-10 Japan (Earl)
Maro Itoje leaps to catch the lineout, England drive for the line, Ben Earl gets the try. Simple stuff. Ford, this time, converts.
39 min: An England lineout near Japan’s try-line. Time for one more?
TRY! England 42-10 Japan (Dearns)
The 6ft 8in Warner Dearns forces his way under two England players to score Japan’s first try! The extras are kicked by Saito, too.
35 min: Japan almost break through, Pollock stops them but the visitors aren’t done. They are exerting some pressure – and …
34 min: Japan win a lineout; one of their strengths. Some ball in hand now for the Brave Blossoms – they look to spread play.
33 min: Ellis Genge with a crunching tackle on Kanji Shimokawa. Jack van Poortvliet kicks a grubber though to Murley as England look to add to their try total – but it just has too much on it.
31 min: Japan finally get near the England try-line for the first time. Can their attack fare better than the visitor’s defence? Not quite, England win possession back and look to build.
TRY! England 42-3 Japan (Murley)
Fine work from George Ford – who hasn’t had his kicking boots on today, but has contributed with ball in hand as England get the ball to Cadan Murley in the opposite side of the pitch to where Joseph has done his damage. But the result is the same! Murley slides across. This is a rout inside half an hour.
27 min: Japan lose Riku Tokito to injury – ah, a shame for him. But at least it’s a few minutes without a try conceded.
TRY! England 37-3 Japan (Joseph)
Will Joseph has FOUR TRIES. Does he get a personal bonus point? England’s buildup is once again deft, flinging the ball out wide and this time Joseph at least has to dive acrobatically into the corner – or maybe he doesn’t need to but does for the cameras. Nice. Ford misses the conversion.
24 min: England’s lineout, Alex Coles snaffles it. Can you guess what happens next…?
22 min: Rare good news for Japan: they are at least back up to 15 players – Michael Stolberg is on the pitch. The bad news: England win a scrum and have the ball back.
TRY! England 32-3 Japan (Joseph)
Will Joseph has a hat-trick after 20 minutes! Freddie Steward, at the heart of much of this, grabs the ball and feeds his winger who puts on the afterburners and races for the line. This is humiliating for the visitors. Ford’s conversion hits a post.
20 min: England are rampant here – Japan cannot keep the ball.
TRY! England 27-3 Japan (Genge)
Ellis Genge with the counter-ruck to win the ball back – then he finishes off the resulting move, forcing his way through to dot down. England have the four-try bonus point before 20 minutes have been played! Ford converts.
TRY! England 20-3 Japan (Steward)
Can everyone stop scoring? England power through Japan’s AWOL defence and Freddie Steward this time does the honours by touching down. The full-back deserves that for the grubber to set up Joseph’s second alone.
PENALTY! England 13-3 Japan (Saito)
Naoto Saito’s accurate kick sails between the posts from a decent distance out – Japan are on the board.
12 min: Japan win a lineout and finally have some ball in hand. Henry Slade gives away a penalty – and the visitors have a chance to get some points on the board. A frenetic start!
TRY! England 13-0 Japan (Joseph)
Will Joseph has two tries inside 10 minutes! England spread play, Freddie Steward with a wonderfully deft kick to the right and Joseph races through to just touch it down. The Japan defence has looked very porous.
PENALTY! England 8-0 Japan (Ford)
George Ford gets his sights in and stretches England’s lead with an easy one in front of the posts.
RED CARD! Harry Hockings (Japan)
Confirmation that Hockings’ card is upgraded to a 20-minute red and his afternoon is over. A head clash with Ellis Genge in the move that buit up to the try. No malice to it, you’d say, but clumsy and a clear red.
5 min: England have the ball and are probing forward. Max Ojomoh – who played a key part in the move for the try – is looking to make inroads. England have a scrum in a dangerous position.
TRY! England 5-0 Japan (Joseph)
To recap: England sliced Japan open inside a minute and Will Joseph powered through the defence to score the try. Ford puts the conversion attempt wide.
Also, Japan are down to 14 with Harry Hockings was shown a yellow card. A penny for the thoughts of Eddie Jones.
Will Joseph has scored a try after 59 seconds! Or was it 60 seconds? Hang on – it is being sent to the TMO … they are having a look at something. It’s actually a Japan player who is being highlighted.
Oh dear – Harry Hockings is in the sin-bin after a clash of heads. That could be upgraded to a red.
Kick-off!
England kick to Argentina – we are under way!
The players are the pitch at Twickenham – it is anthem time! Japan first. It’s a quite evocative number, received with a pleasant smattering of applause before God Save the King. England’s players belt that out.
Kick-off is imminent!
“I’m really looking forward to seeing these players go,” says Steve Borthwick, talking to ITV as kick-off approaches. “There are a lot of changes, many enforced by injuries, but I think this is a really exciting England team.”
“Japan are a dangerous and improving team – and any side coached by Eddie Jones is well drilled and comes with a plan.”
Eddie Jones is on the pitch in the warm-up wearing a long coat alongside his very long co-captain, Warner Dearns. The 24-year-old was born in New Zealand but moved to Japan as a young teenager.
Japan’s Riku Tokito is – remarkably – playing his first game of professional XVs at Twickenham this afternoon. The sevens ace is starting on the left wing. In the immortal words of Jack Karnehm: “Good luck, mate.”
“The overarching message this week is that we need to be alive,” said Maro Itoje – the captain and one of only three England players starting in the same position as they did against Australia.
“It’s impossible to tick off every eventuality that an opposition might do, especially a team like Japan, who have a very distinct way of playing.”
It’s half an hour to go before kick-off at Twickenham – where England will be determined to ensure Wales beating New Zealand is the only seismic upset of the day.
Rob Kitson has set the scene on what’s at stake for England’s players today – have a read.
Full time: Wales 35-28 New Zealand
For the first time since 1953, Wales have beaten the All Blacks! What an astonishing result. Many of the Wales players are in tears in Cardiff.
Here’s our snap report, which will be added to soon.
We’re a minute away from full time – still Wales 35-28 New Zealand! Apparently the Principality Stadium isn’t full, but you’d never guess from the raucous support the fans are giving their team for this titanic effort. Can these Wales players make themselves heroes?
Nations Championship weekend update! France edged South Africa 21-19 in a nail-biting match last night. Earlier today, Argentina held on to win 19-14 in Italy.
Right now: Wales are defending heroically/desperately in Cardiff. Eight minutes to go and they still lead 35-28 against New Zealand. Just about.
An electrifying Nations Championship game is taking place in Cardiff right now: Wales are winning 35-28 against the All Blacks with about 15 minutes left!
The hosts started like a train, scoring two tries in the first five minutes. New Zealand have kept reeling them in – but Wales keep on slugging back.
A reminder: Wales haven’t beaten the All Blacks since 1953.
Teams
England
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
Kazuma Ueda, Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Samisoni Tua, Riku Tokito, Riku Kitahara, Naoto Saito (co-capt); Yota Kamimori, Mamoru Harada, Shuhei Takeuchi, Harry Hockings, Warner Dearns (co-capt), Ben Gunter, Kanji Shimokawa, Jack Cornelsen.
Replacements: Kenji Sato, Sojiro Otsuka, Opeti Helu, Michael Stolberg, Tiennan Costley, Shinobu Fujiwara, Shinya Komura, Jisu Lee.
Referee: Damián Schneider
Preamble
Screen tests for the new James Bond aren’t the only major auditions taking place in England this autumn. With Steve Borthwick’s claiming that “probably 26 to 28” places in his 33-man World Cup squad are decided, any players on the fringes will be highly motivated to impress. Which adds to the intrigue around this Nations Championship clash with Japan, for which Borthwick has made 10 changes from the XV that stuck 45 points on Australia last weekend.
Admittedly, some of those switches are down to injury woes – alas, Manny Feyi-Waboso! – but mainly it’s England’s head coach testing his depth/resting first-choice options for the All Blacks next weekend. That means a second England start for Henry Pollock (at No 8) while the exciting Max Ojomoh is at inside centre. Reliable George Ford gets the nod at fly-half.
As for Eddie Jones’s Brave Blossoms: he’ll be telling his charges that all these changes smack of England taking Japan lightly. (That’s when Jones isn’t telling England they struggle against “unorthodox” rugby.) Japan are coming off a respectable 28-21 defeat in Wales and Jones has said he is “looking forward to going to Twickenham with this young Japanese team that’s going to play the house down”.
Bold talk, even if the odds are firmly against Japan scoring a first ever win over England. Indeed, Borthwick’s much-changed XV – full of players champing at the bit to prove their worth – may be an even tougher challenge for Japan than a first-choice lineup with half an eye on New Zealand.
The Allianz Stadium is sold out. Kick-off is at 4.40pm (GMT). Please email with your thoughts and stay with us for more Nations Championship news in the buildup!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/nov/14/england-v-japan-nations-championship-rugby-union-live
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