Japan vs England LIVE rugby: Result and reaction as Marcus Smith inspires big win in Tokyo
Japan 17-52 England: Marcus Smith and Henry Slade pulled the strings as the visitors ran in eight tries
Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing
Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news
England kicked off their summer tour with an eight-try thrashing of Japan in Tokyo as they tuned up for two Tests against the All Blacks.
Steve Borthwick’s side head south for a two-Test tour of New Zealand at the start of July, and the England head coach will have been pleased with how his side accelerated away after a sticky start on a hot and humid afternoon. After holding firm defensively despite a fast Japanese start, Marcus Smith and Henry Slade pulled the strings nicely at the Japan National Stadium as England showed off their attacking array to take control of the contest.
Four first-half tries were followed by scores after interval from Alex Mitchell, Ben Earl, Harry Randall and Sam Underhill, though England’s win was somewhat marred by the sending off of Charlie Ewels late on. The lock was making his first international appearance since being red carded at Twickenham against Ireland during the 2022 Six Nations but flew in dangerously on Japan captain Michael Leitch at a ruck to potentially end his tour.
The Ewels incident came amid Japan’s brightest spell as lock Warner Dearns created two excellent tries, but it is England who emerged as sizeable winners to take confidence into their first clash with the All Blacks in a fortnight.
Re-live all of the action from the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo below:
Japan vs England: Marcus Smith’s breakthrough, a golden wing pair at last and five things we learned
England geared up for Tests against the All Blacks in fine fashion as they secured a sizeable win over Japan in Tokyo.
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 vs England takeaways including Smith breakthrough and one regret
Japan 17-52 England: An eight-try win was marred by Charlie Ewels’ dismissal late on in Tokyo
Marcus Smith shines as impressive England thrash Japan despite late sending off
Marcus Smith shone as England inflicted a crushing defeat on their former head coach Eddie Jones to give their summer tour lift off in Tokyo’s National Stadium.
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.
Marcus Smith shines as impressive England thrash Japan despite late sending off
Japan 17-52 England: The hosts were overwhelmed in their first match since Jones’ return to Tokyo
Eddie Jones on Japan’s defeat
“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.”
And England head coach Steve Borthwick has his say, too
“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.”
Jamie George reacts to England’s victory
“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.”
FT: Japan 17-52 England
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.
Japan 17-52 England, 80 minutes
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!
RED CARD! Charlie Ewels is sent off! Japan 17-52 England, 78 minutes
“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.
TRY! Japan 17-52 ENGLAND (Sam Underhill try, 76 minutes)
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.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments