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

Marauding run forward by Japan lock Sanaila Waqa but he then just drops the ball. There was no contact, he was mid-maraud and just floors the ball for the knock-on. Sums things up for Japan at the moment.

England clear from the scrum and Japan suddenly in their own half. Neat work down the left sees Dylan Riley offload to Tomoki Osada and he surges into the England half.

They cannot! Great defensive lineout work by Maro Itoje as he outjumps his opposite man to cleanly pinch replacement hooker Kenta Matsuoka’s throw in the air.

England clear their lines

Japan rumble forward into the 22 and England penalised as the ref tells them you can’t dive on to the ball within one metre of the ruck.

Kick to the corner, can Japan score here from five metres?

Japan wih some early pressure in this second half. They win a penalty, go quickly and get into the 22.

A grubber kick in behind has England scrambling but Marcus Smith dives to stop Jone Naikabula getting to the ball and Ben Earl secures the ball on the deck. They’re right on their own line but England exit well and kick clear out of the 22.

And we’re underway in the second half. The final 40 minutes of England’s Autumn Nations Series campaign.

They’ll hope to keep their foot on the gas after an impressive first half and it will be interesting to see how their bench goes - whether the intensity perhaps drops off.

After a slightly shaky start, England have warmed to their work rather impressively as their confidence has swollen. Japan have been unable to get to grips with Ollie Lawrence particularly, while a willingness to pass and offload at the line has caused all manner of problems. Steve Borthwick urged his team to be braver in that regard this week:

“I think we’ve got a great skilled group of players,” the head coach said. “I think the work that [assistant coaches] Andrew Strawbridge and Richard Wigglesworth are doing with developing the handling skills, offloading skills of players, you have seen an increase in our offloading. I want that to go further than where it currently is now.

“I think we’re a team, start talking about that athletic nature team, we’re a team that is going to carry and identify space and then not let the defence recover. If we don’t need to have a breakdown, I don’t want to have a breakdown. I want the players to be able to move the ball.”

We’ve seen exactly that in the first half, including in the lead-up to Ollie Sleightholme’s well-taken score.

And that’s half-time! Breathless stuff at Allianz Stadium but England’s attack has been clinical to the tune of five tries, with four of those coming from lineout ball.

The one blip was Naoto Saito finishing off a breakaway try for Japan but Steve Borthwick’s side doing what they’re supposed to so far.

A final chance for Japan before the break. England pinged for holding on in the tackle and the penalty is kicked into the 22 by the visitors.

They run some phases, rumbling for a few metres but Faulua Makisi is eventually pinged for a neck roll - more wrestling move than ruck clearout on Will Stuart! England boot clear

England immediately hit back! It’s a bit scrappy in midfield but a spin, then a neat Lawrence offload gives Will Stuart a bit of space.

That’s some pass by the prop, loopign the ball out to Cunningham-South, he feeds Ollie Sleightholme on the right wing and he grubber kicks past the final man before diving on the ball for try number five.

Smith stays perfect from the tee.

But just as I say that, Japan go the length of the pitch and get a try of their own! There’s nothing particularly deceiving about it - they go wide in their own 22 and Dylan Riley rumbles forward before selling George Furbank a dummy.

Suddenly there’s green grass in front of him, he draws the final defender and pops to Naoto Saito for the run-in under the posts.

Skipper Saito then adds the easy conversion himself. England sliced apart too easily there.