England opened their summer tour in style with an eight-try rout of Japan but Steve Borthwick says significant improvement is required if they are to trouble New Zealand next month.
Head coach Borthwick watched his side overcome a sticky start in the Tokyo heat to showcase their power and attacking qualities as they ran in four tries in each half, with half-backs Marcus Smith and Alex Mitchell among the players to impress in the 52-17 victory.
The big negatives came on the discipline front. England conceded 15 penalties, had Smith sin-binned for an off-the-ball tackle which should arguably have resulted in a penalty try, while Charlie Ewels is likely to be suspended for the two-match series against New Zealand after he was sent off for a reckless clear-out on Michael Leitch that could have easily ended the Japan captain’s afternoon.
“Firstly, the performance level will need to rise as we face New Zealand in two weeks’ time,” said Borthwick.
“I’ll say about the discipline – you can’t give that number of penalties away. We know that. You also can’t give New Zealand the space that we gave Japan today.
“At the same time I expect our performance to go up a level. We had one session in England before we flew and we’ve had one proper session in Japan since we arrived, getting over the jet lag.
“To produce that off a couple of sessions together has been very impressive from the players’ point of view, but we will need to go up several levels, and I expect us to go up several levels for New Zealand.”
Alex Mitchell scored a try in what was an impressive display by the scrum-half
Borthwick refused to comment on Ewels’ dismissal, his second in successive Tests for England having seen red against Ireland during the 2022 Six Nations, but Japan captain Leitch felt there was no malice by the Bath lock.
“He came in with intent to clean out and luckily I got my knee out of the way, but that’s the game,” said Leitch.
Jones: We took the game to England
Jones speaks with England prop Joe Marler after the final whistle
It was an unhappy reunion for former England coach Eddie Jones as his second stint with Japan got off to an inauspicious start.
Jones named four debutants in his starting line-up, including two in a front row that contained only three caps, with a further four uncapped players on the bench.
“When you play against a team you’ve coached, it’s always a bit of fun,” said Jones. “It makes it a bit more interesting. You know the players, and some of the young players you bring through, you want them to do well, but you just don’t want them to do too well against you.”
Jones instructed his side to play with a fast tempo and they had England on the ropes during the opening quarter, but Japan’s handling let them down at crucial moments before England began to dominate up front and in the set-piece.
Chandler Cunningham-South scored the opening try on his full England debut
“The first 15 minutes of the game, we had England under pressure,” he said. “We took the game to England and that was one of the major aims to get today.
“How long we could do it for? Well, the only way to improve that is through practice. There’s no magic solution. It’s just practice and practice, and we’ll get there.
“We’ve got eight new caps today that have all had a fantastic learning experience. Sometimes you get the lesson before you get anything else, and they got that today.
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“All in all, disappointed with the result but super pleased with the effort of the players and their intent to play how we wanted to play.
“We are 10 days into a four-year project. I’m really pleased with the young players today, and the player led by example the most was Michael Leitch who was absolutely fantastic today. What a player for Japan.”