England beats Japan 59-14 to end five-match losing streak and ruin Eddie Jones’ return to Twickenham

LONDON (AP) — England’s rugby team ended its five-match losing streak in fine style by running in nine tries to beat Eddie Jones’ Japan 59-14 on Sunday.

England was previously defeated by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in this autumn series, after back-to-back test losses to the All Blacks in July. A sixth straight defeat would have been England’s worst run since 2006.

Captain Jamie George scored two of England’s five tries in the first half and there were four more after the break at Twickenham, with Luke Cowan-Dickie — the replacement hooker for George — crossing twice.

Japan has still never beaten England.

Jones, who coached England from 2015-22 and led the team to a World Cup final in 2019, returned to Twickenham under a cloud after criticism of his leadership style by former England players.

England was sharp and efficient, taking its chances when they arose and showing variety in attack. Yet routing an opponent ranked No. 13 in the world papers over the cracks of an autumn that has seen the team go backward.

The three southern hemisphere powers had already stormed Twickenham to place England head coach Steve Borthwick under pressure heading into the Six Nations, with his record for 2024 reading five victories in 12 matches.

Ireland in Dublin is England’s next assignment and this romp has at least lifted the heavy burden of a five-game losing run that registered the nation’s worst sequence of results since 2018 — when Jones was in charge.

The onslaught began as early as the ninth minute when Marcus Smith and Henry Slade combined to send Ollie Lawrence charging into space. Ben Earl was in support to take the scoring pass.

England, playing in its red change jerseys, made ground with every attack and the alarm bells started ringing for Japan when Sam Underhill forced his way over following muscular work from his pack.

Underhill was injured while carrying the ball over the line, ending his game, and the one-way traffic continued with England repeatedly driving tacklers backward in contact.

Over went a driving maul with George the scorer and only a knock-on from scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet prevented Tommy Freeman from extending the lead further.

But the next score arrived soon enough with the maul and George delivering once again to extend the lead to 28-0.

It was already looking grim for Japan but the visitors showed their flair for attack by racing through a large hole in the home midfield for Naoto Saito to touch down.

Lawrence’s pinball run and a long floated pass by Will Stuart sent Ollie Sleightholme over, ushering in a long second half for the Japanese.

They emerged from the break showing far greater resolve, however, and for much of the third quarter England’s players were forced to roll up their sleeves as white shirts pressured their defense.

But when the opportunity arrived to strike, England grabbed it with a line-out turnover kicked to the wing where Freeman produced an outrageous around-the-back pass for George Furbank to finish.

Spinning as he carried from short range, Cowan-Dickie was the next to cross but again Japan showed its threat with the ball when Kazuki Himeno rounded off a move full of imagination.

England responded with tries from Cowan-Dickie and Tom Roebuck to complete the win.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby