England kept the pressure on Pool A leaders France with a record-breaking 78-15 demolition of Japan at Twickenham, as they strengthened their push to qualify for the inaugural Nations Championship final on November 29.
Will Joseph stole the show, scoring a record-equalling five tries on his first Test start as England ran in 13 tries in a one-sided encounter that also marked a painful return to Twickenham for former England coach Eddie Jones.
The recalled Gloucester winger, earning just his second cap, seized his opportunity in spectacular fashion, becoming only the fifth England player to score five tries in a Test. He joined Douglas Lambert, Rory Underwood, Josh Lewsey and Henry Arundell in the record books.
The younger brother of former England international Jonathan Joseph needed just 65 seconds to open his account, setting the tone for a remarkable afternoon.
Japan’s problems deepened almost immediately when lock Harry Hockings was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Ellis Genge. The decision was upgraded to a 20-minute red card, leaving the visitors a man short during a devastating England scoring burst.
Joseph completed his hat trick of tries inside the opening quarter as England crossed five times in the first 20 minutes. His second came from a perfectly weighted grubber kick, while Genge powered over for the fourth try in the 17th minute to secure the bonus point and put England 27–3 ahead.
Japan struggled to contain the hosts, with England exploiting the gaps in their defence as Joseph added a fourth try before half-time.
The visitors eventually found some attacking rhythm after 35 minutes, working their way into England’s 22 before captain Warner Dearns crossed for Japan’s first try. Saito added the conversion to take them into double figures.
England had the final say before the break, however, with Ben Earl scoring their eighth try. George Ford converted to send the hosts into half-time with an emphatic 49–10 lead.
The result surpassed England’s previous best score and winning margin against Japan, eclipsing their 60-7 victory at the 1987 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Joseph completed his remarkable five-try haul in the 57th minute, intercepting a pass to become the fifth England player to reach that milestone in a Test match.
England 78 [Tries: Joseph 5, Steward, Genge, Murley, Earl, Martin, Curry, Smith, Fisilau; Cons: Ford 2, Slade 2; Pens: Ford] Japan 15 [Tries: Dearns, Helu; Cons: Saito; Pens: Saito]
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Will Joseph, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 George Ford (vice-captain), 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Alex Coles, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge (vice-captain).
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Arthur Clark, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Greg Fisilau, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Marcus Smit
Japan: 15 Kazuma Ueda, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Samisoni Tua, 11 Riku Tokito, 10 Riku Kitahara, 9 Naoto Saito (co-captain), 8 Jack Cornelsen, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns (co-captain), 4 Harry Hockings, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Yota Kamimori.
Replacements: 16 Kenji Sato, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Opeti Helu, 19 Michael Stolberg, 20 Tiennan Costley, 21 Shinobu Fujiwara, 22 Shinya Komura, 23 Jisu Lee.
Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
