England vs Japan Prediction & Betting Tips - Rugby World Cup

Prediction published on 15/09/2023, 16:00  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 17/09/2023 at 07:00 in Rugby World Cup Prediction

England take on Japan in Pool D of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It's Japan who are top of the pool after they opened with a 42-12 win over Chile. That puts them ahead of England in second who defeated Argentina 27-10 in their first match of the finals. The other country in this pool are Samoa who take on Chile the day before this match so may even be in top place by Sunday. England haven't had a good preparation for this tournament but put in a good (if not totally disciplined) performance against Argentina. A win over Japan will take them a step further to a likely quarter final against either Wales or Australia. No tries were scored in their win over the Argentinians with all their points coming from the boot of George Ford. Not just penalties but drop-kicks too. Japan will be keeping an eye out for the latter. Hopefully England will actually play this match with 15 players and not see another sending off. Only three changes have been made from the team that beat Argentina last Saturday. 

Japan are ranked 14th in the world and that's eight places below their opponents. Their key matches in this pool are likely to be the ones that follow this game against England. A top two finish looks unlikely but finishing third will see them avoid having to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. The Cherry Blossoms reached the last eight in 2019 but that's the only time they have ever made it out of the pool stage. Their captain Kazuki Himeno didn't play against Chile but he's recovered from the calf problem that ruled him out of that match. They have never beaten England and lost by 39 points to them last year. This is likely to be closer but England can still be backed to win on a -15.5 handicap.