England train ahead of Rugby World Cup clash with Japan
England will be hoping to make it two wins from two when they take on Japan in their next Rugby World Cup group stage match in Pool D as Steve Borthwick’s side look to continue with their steady start. The Red and Whites defeated Argentina in their opening match in France with George Ford to thank for kicking all their points in a 27-10 victory.
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Borthwick is expected to make changes to his line-up, especially after the suspension of Tom Curry, who was sent off in the early stages of the Argentina match. With Curry facing a two-match suspension, England could bring in Willy Vunipola to shore up their back row.
Vunipola is available again after completing his own two-match ban for a sending off against Ireland last month, with England defence coach Kevin Sinfield singing his praises: “He is a big, powerful man and he has some wonderful leadership qualities,” he said. “He lifts people and once he is on the field he gets seven and eights out of ten out of those people around him.”
Elsewhere, Ireland breezed past Tonga 59-16 on Saturday night, while Wales found it tougher going against Portugal, eventually coming through to win 28-8.
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READ MORE England coach Borthwick must ignore sentiment and use Ford not Farrell vs Japan[OPINION]
Rugby World Cup officials make England promise
Rugby World Cup officials have assured England fans there will be no repeat of the issues faced against Argentina in getting fans inside the ground.
England fans were left stranded outside the stadium until 15 minutes before kick-off, but Amelie Oudea-Castera told the Financial Times she would “personally monitor every detail” at the match in Nice to ensure that fans are satisfied, after overcrowding, beer supply problems and other problems arose in France.
“Their experience at the match against Japan must be impeccable from start to finish,” she said. “The English are still mad at us.
She later added: “It was chaos at the Stade de France but that is not what happened in Marseille. There were no dangerous crowd movements, no criminality, and no security problems. There were just long wait times that were totally unacceptable.”
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Stay tuned for all the latest news and results from the tournament in France as we build up to England vs Japan later today.
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