England vs Japan LIVE rugby: Result and reaction as much-improved England seal big win

England 52-13 Japan: Eddie Jones’s side were rampant in scoring seven tries

England were much improved against Japan at Twickenham (Getty Images)

England put last week’s ragged defeat by Argentina firmly behind them when they ran in six tries, plus a penalty try, and played some highly entertaining rugby along the way to overwhelm Japan 52-13 at Twickenham.

Full-back Freddie Steward was the star of the first half as he claimed the opening try and had a hand in scores for Guy Porter and Marcus Smith as England led 24-6 at the break and stretched that lead in the second half through Ellis Genge and Porter.

England lost their way for 20 minutes, allowing Naoto Saito to score Japan’s only try, before a penalty try and a second from Smith finished things off for the hosts. Owen Farrell landed all six conversion attempts as well as an early penalty.

England, who will play Japan again in the pool stage of the World Cup next September, face New Zealand next week, before finishing their autumn internationals against South Africa. Japan, who pushed France and New Zealand close in their previous two games, play France again next Sunday.

Relive all the action from Twickenham with our blog:

England vs Japan latest updates

• FOLLOW LIVE COVERAGE OF WALES VS ARGENTINA
• FULL-TIME! England 52-13 Japan
• 74’ - TRY! Smith collects Slade’s kick and touches down (ENG 52-13 JPN)
• 70’ - TRY! Penalty try for England after a side entry from Japan (ENG 45-13 JPN)
• 59’ - TRY! Saito dots down after good offload (ENG 38-13 JPN)
• 50’ - TRY! Porter wins a foot-race to Farrell’s kick for his second try (ENG 38-6 JPN)
• 48’ - TRY! Genge powers through defenders for the score (ENG 31-6 JPN)
• 40’ - TRY! Porter finishes off move in the corner (ENG 24-6 JPN)
• 24’ - TRY! Smith scores after a brilliant England counter (ENG 17-0 JPN)
• 12’ - TRY! Steward scythes over after a set-play from a lineout maul (ENG 10-0 JPN)

[12 November 2022 17:39 · Luke Baker]

Wales 0-0 Argentina, 6 mins

Anscombe caught offside, so Argentina into the Welsh half for the first time as the clock passes five minutes. Lineout safely secured and a decent drive sets them up.

Fly-half Carreras on the wraparound and he pops to Cruz Mallia running a great line to enter the 22. Faletau pinged for not rolling away and it’s a shot at the posts upcoming

[12 November 2022 17:36 · Luke Baker]

Wales 0-0 Argentina, 3 mins

Now Rio Dyer shows his skill as he skips past a man, cuts in from his right wing and makes good metres. Wales’s young back-three stars showing out early.

Argentina win the ball and clear but Wales will still have the lineout in Argentina territory. Good platform for them

[12 November 2022 17:34 · Luke Baker]

Wales 0-0 Argentina, 2 mins

After a couple of early box kicks, Louis Rees-Zammit gets his first touch of the ball and he immediately shows his electric footwork to slide between defenders and make 30 metres to lift the crowd

Doesn’t matter whether he’s on the wing or at full-back, he’s a danger with ball in hand. Good offload as well but Faletau knocks the ball on a couple of passes later, so it’s an Argentina scrum on their own 22.

[12 November 2022 17:32 · Luke Baker]

Wales 0-0 Argentina, 1 min

And we’re off in Cardiff! Santiago Carreras kicks the ball deep and it’s safely handled by George North

[12 November 2022 17:28 · Luke Baker]

Wales vs Argentina

The teams are out and the anthems are just about completed. We’ll be kicking off in Cardiff imminently

[12 November 2022 17:25 · Luke Baker]

Wayne Pivac gives his pre-match thoughts

Wales, and in particular coach Wayne Pivac, are under enormous pressure after a dismal run of results.

Speaking about last weekend’s record defeat to New Zealand, Pivac tells Prime Video: “We know we didn't play to our potential. We talked about a fast start and we need to start well. We need to be more physical, take it to the opposition and win collisions.

[On playing Louis Rees-Zammit at full-back]: “I guess it's a gamble because he’s not played there a lot but he trained well during the week. It's about back three as a whole helping each other.”

[12 November 2022 17:21 · Luke Baker]

Argentina - team news

Meanwhile, Argentina have opted for an unchanged team and why not! They were superb in beating England at Twickenham last week so coach Michael Cheika sees no reason to switch things up.

It means Santiago Carreras continues at No 10, while kicker and wing superstar Emiliano Boffelli is the man who makes the Pumas tick, as shown by his 25-point haul a week ago

Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Mateo Carreras, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou; 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Eliseo Morales, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Matias Orlando.

[12 November 2022 17:16 · Luke Baker]

Wales - team news

Attention now turns to Cardiff where under-pressure Wales take on Argentina. Kick-off is about 15 minutes away

The big team news is that Louis Rees-Zammit will start at full-back. He switches from his usual wing to fill a problem position, with Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny both injured.

Alex Cuthbert, who has recovered from injury, and Rio Dyer - a try-scorer on his Test debut when New Zealand beat Wales 55-23 last weekend - complete the back three. Gareth Anscombe, who deputised for Halfpenny five days ago, reverts to fly-half, replacing Rhys Priestland.

Elsewhere, prop Dillon Lewis starts instead of Tomas Francis and experienced Ospreys flanker Dan Lydiate features in the back row.

With Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell sidelined because of a rib injury, captain Justin Tipuric moves across to openside, packing down with No 8 Taulupe Faletau in a back-row trio boasting 246 caps. There is no place in the matchday 23 for Wales’ record cap holder Alun Wyn Jones.

Wales: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gareth Thomas

Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Owen Watkin.

[12 November 2022 17:09 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

F/T: England 52-13 Japan

“Really happy with that performance,” says Freddie Steward, named Player of the Match. “We had a point to prove after last weekend. We worked really hard this week and I’m glad it worked out for us. It was an incredible atmosphere today.

“Back to the drawing board [to prepare for New Zealand]. We’ll look at what we did well today, but we’ll need to be better next week.”

(Getty Images)

[12 November 2022 17:07 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

FULL TIME! ENGLAND 52-13 JAPAN

A much, much improved showing from England, and that’s something of a statement victory over what is a more than handy Japanese side. At last, the much discussed attack clicked in a manner that delighted the Twickenham crowd, with Freddie Steward producing an outstanding display, Ellis Genge bristling about and the Marcus Smith/Owen Farrell axis creating all manner of issues for the Japan defence.

Plenty to like for Eddie Jones ahead of next week’s encounter with the All Blacks.