Japan vs England LIVE rugby: Result and reaction as Marcus Smith ...

Encountering Eddie Jones for the first time since the former head coach’s defenestration at the end of 2022, England would have feared a sticky afternoon in the heat and humidity of the Japanese capital, and struggled to get going with Japan firing out of the blocks.

But Marcus Smith and Henry Slade soon warmed to their work, showing off the ample attacking options at their disposal to accelerate up through the gears and eventually hit 50.

Japan were overwhelmed 52-17 in their first match since Jones was placed back in charge, with England amassing eight tries until the strike rate dried up in the face of a final-quarter surge from the hosts.

A pleasing performance saw Steve Borthwick’s men pick-up where they left off in the Six Nations by playing smart and ambitious rugby that was well executed, particularly close to the whitewash.

Smith was at the heart of the enterprise shown, justifying his selection ahead of Fin Smith by orchestrating play intelligently until he was replaced having been shown a yellow card in the 55th minute.

“It was a pretty tough game for us today. England are a strong, powerful team, but I was really pleased with our set piece work. We’ve been working on little things in our attack which created opportunities, but we weren’t able to finish them.

“We wanted to move the ball quickly, and to do that starts with our set piece where we showed some improvement today. Our movement around the ball is still not sharp enough. But for those eight [new] players to play in front of a fantastic crowd, it shows really strong potential for Japanese rugby.”

“The application of the players was really excellent. Clearly late in the game our cohesion broke up a little against a fast and skillful Japanese team who took their chances really well.

“I thought the ball movement of the Japanese team was excellent. You can tell that team is going to grow and be very dangerous. We had to defend really well to keep them out.”

“I thought it was a really tough game. The conditions were very difficult, so I’m very proud about the way we went about our business. It was always going to be difficult to come over here and get a result, so we are happy with that.

“They are a fantastic team. We knew they were going to be very well drilled - we know Eddie well and have huge respect for him as a coach.

“I think it probably took us a little while to get used to the conditions, but we were really efficient with the ball. We’ve got some really talented backs with speed and we managed to show that today.”

A big win for England, then, though that late Charlie Ewels dismissal does somewhat mar an otherwise very encouraging day. After a sticky start in the heat and humidty, Steve Borthwick’s side accelerated away, with Marcus Smith and Henry Slade influential and their pack on top in close contact.

Japan stayed in the fight, though, and got some of the rewards they merited late on with lock Warner Dearns creating two lovely tries. For a young side, there will be plenty of learnings, too - as I’m sure Eddie Jones will underline when he speaks a little later.

England have got funky: Ben Earl is now stationed at 12, Henry Slade at 13 and Ollie Lawrence out on the wing. The latter is the target of a Fin Smith cross kick, but can’t gather as he slides towards the line. And that’ll be that!

“High degree of danger, no mitigation” - Charlie Ewels’ yellow card is upgraded to red! Two years after his last Test against Ireland at Twickenham was ended inside a few minutes after being sent off for a high tackle, Ewels is dismissed again on his international return - and that may be his tour over.

England hit a half-century!

Sam Underhill wins a breakdown penalty and gets immediate reward, riding a fast-moving chariot to the line as England maul strongly. Henry Slade converts.