England take on the Brave Blossoms in the first-ever Test match between the sides to be held in Japan.

It marks the opening game of England’s Summer Series, after which Steve Borthwick’s men head to New Zealand for two Tests against the All Blacks.

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Last time out

England beat Japan 34-12 in the pool stages of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Nice, courtesy of tries from Joe Marchant, Freddie Steward, Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam, as well as 14 points from the boot of George Ford.

Views in camp

Steve Borthwick

"We can't wait for the game on Saturday. I think we've prepared the team, and we will continue to prepare the team as well as we possibly can this week. This is a young team and with every group, as you play, you get to understand the players more.

"There’s a lot of consistency in the selection. I think Marcus is doing really well through our preparation camps, and it provides continuity from the latter part of the Six Nations.

"In Marcus and Fin, we have two brilliant players. It's an enviable position to be to have players of that quality. Marcus has slipped into camp since we assembled. From the first preparation camp, he’s done really well and he brings a lot of experience of England squads."

Henry Slade

“Japan has threats all over the team. Michael Leach is a talisman for the Japanese side but more specifically in my position, Dylan Riley is a very good attacking player. I’m going to have to be very good defensively to stop him.

“We're just focusing on ourselves and the best game we can bring. We know Japan are a good side and they would cause any side problems, but we were confident in what we're doing. If you worry too much about the opposition, you forget about what you're doing yourself. So, we’re concentrating on ourselves a lot and hopefully, we can bring our best game at the weekend.

“The conditions are completely different playing in Twickenham to playing in Tokyo. Japan are coached by Eddie now and we know he’s an incredible coach and will have put his stamp on things in the Japanese team. We are expecting a very, very tough game. We’ve got three games on this tour and we want to win them all."

Stats

Japan will be chasing their first-ever victory against England. 

They have lost their past eight games against Six Nations teams by an average margin of 39 points. 

The Brave Blossoms have never scored more than 15 points or two tries against England in a match that holds test status. 

The games in which Japan have scored higher than 15 points were in 1971 and 1979, when England toured Japan but the matches did not hold Test status.