England vs Japan LIVE rugby: Result and reaction as impressive England notch big win to finish autumn

“When you have got 200 caps [in your side], it means most of the players have played ten Tests or less. When something doesn’t go right, they can’t adapt to it. You only learn by doing it. I look at Marcus [Smith] today and now he is so competent in his decision-making. That’s what you get from 40 Tests. We’ve got to be patient and stick to the process. We want to play differently and want to play faster, and that puts pressure on your skills. There is no magic solution here.”

“They are a really young team and we’ve got to accept this is part of the process. I don’t think there is anything we’ve massively improved in or anything we’ve massively gone down in. I’m pleased for Steve [Borthwick] that he won’t have the press hounding him - for seven days at least.

“We didn’t want to get into a box kick contest with England, because they would squeeze us. We didn’t execute as well as we would have liked but the idea was right.”

“Taking learnings” has been the repeated phrase this autumn - ad nauseam from the England camp as they’ve fully embraced this Borthwick-ism. Even after today’s win there’s no escape, with Marcus Smith urging the team to do so once again.

Smith, speaking to TNT Sports, said: “There are a lot of learnings to take, but it is always good to finish with a win. The autumn did not go the way we wanted but we have taken a lot of learnings in closing games out. Hopefully in the Six Nations we get to carry it on.

“It takes time, there will be pain for a bit, we have stuck together as a group with some experienced boys leading us and hopefully we take it on into the Six Nations.

“The biggest learning is how to close out games, be more ruthless, don’t go into our shells and finish teams off when they are there for the taking. Those small moments in the big games matter and we have to learn quick.”

Winger Ollie Sleightholme was named man of the match after an impressive display and he has given his reaction to the win.

Sleightholme, speaking to TNT Sports, said: “The results have not gone our way, but this week we got our foot down and righted those wrongs from the other weeks.

“We tried to stay positive, there was a lot of good stuff to take from these performances.”

After a November of frets and frustration came a chance for fun and frolics for England. Few questions may have been answered about this England team in this Twickenham thrashing, but at least we know that Steve Borthwick’s side can beat Japan; a 59-14 slaying of their visitors ended a run of five successive defeats since they last put their callow opponents to the sword in June.

There were no need for any final-quarter quivers or quibbles after the sort of ruthless, rollicking performance that Steve Borthwick would have demanded. The England head coach had ventured nothing in the search of longer-term gain, naming a first-choice side and tasking them with releasing their autumn angst and anger on an overmatched Japan. They duly obliged, piling points and pain on Eddie Jones, a polarising preacher unable to cause further upset in his past parish.

Read Harry Latham-Coyle’s full report from Allianz Stadium, Twickenham:

Let’s be frank, this performance doesn’t erase what has been a very frustrating autumn for England but they played some really nice stuff to spectacularly dispatch Japan. There was no happy return to Twickenham for ex-boss Eddie Jones.

Nine tries for England, including a lovely first international score for Tom Roebuck

England turn the ball over but then knock on, so it’s all over! Impressive display by England, who stick nine tries on Japan. Some promising performances to finish the autumn off

Lineout comes to nothing, so a Japan scrum. Final knockings here.

The maul is messy but England given the penalty as Epineri Uluiviti changed his bind and Yukio Morikawa came in from the side.

Another five-metre lineout for England with 60 seconds left.

One final try for England to reach a nice round 10? A few phases in the 22 before Fin Smith grubbers through but a frantic Japan defence seize upon it and boot clear to the 22.