Japan 17-52 England: Marcus Smith shines in eight-try victory over Eddie Jones' Brave Blossoms in Tokyo
England score four tries in each half to make winning start to summer tour; Marcus Smith scores try and creates two more before second-half sin-binning; Charlie Ewels sent off for reckless clear-out; watch England's two-Test series in New Zealand live on Sky Sports in July
Last Updated: 22/06/24 1:06pm
Marcus Smith shone as England inflicted a crushing 52-17 defeat on their former head coach Eddie Jones to give their summer tour lift-off in Tokyo.
Japan were overwhelmed in their first match since Jones was placed back in charge, with England amassing eight tries until the strike rate dried up in the face of a final-quarter surge from the hosts.
A pleasing performance saw Steve Borthwick's men pick up where they left off in the Six Nations by playing smart and ambitious rugby that was well executed, particularly close to the whitewash.
Smith was at the heart of the enterprise shown, justifying his selection ahead of Fin Smith by orchestrating play intelligently until he was replaced having been shown a yellow card in the 55th minute.
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Tougher challenges lie ahead on tour in the form of two Tests against New Zealand, who will give Smith far less room to work his magic than an accommodating Japan defence, but the Harlequins fly-half pointed to a future that does not include George Ford and Owen Farrell.
Borthwick will have taken satisfaction from winning his personal duel with Jones, his former boss with England and Japan, but the match ended on a sour note when Charlie Ewels' yellow card for a dangerous clear-out was upgraded to red.
Ewels became the first England player to be sent off twice following his dismissal against Ireland two years ago.
How England made winning start to summer tour
There was early evidence of the humidity that England had trained for as the ball squirted out of the hands of both sides, but Japan made the faster start that was rewarded with a penalty from fly-half Seungsin Lee.
The tourists' first meaningful attack produced a try, however, as a series of pick-and-goes underlined the greater carrying power of their forwards until the excellent Chandler Cunningham-South muscled over with help from Ben Earl.
A slick lineout move that saw Jamie George find Ollie Lawrence with a long throw ended when Smith ghosted through the midfield to score and the Harlequin then turned provider with a long pass for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Smith was at the heart of England's growing control of the game, also catching the eye with a 50-22, and pleasingly for Borthwick every visit to the 22 saw their lead increase.
His vision sent a leaping Henry Slade over via a crossfield kick in another clinical finish and the second half was only two minutes old when Alex Mitchell exploited a gap around the ruck to glide over.
Japan launched a rare attack that was foiled by a Sam Underhill turnover and the home defence was then back in grave peril as Smith pinned them back with a kick that was followed by Feyi-Waboso and Dan Cole going close.
Earl succeeded soon after, helped by an offload from Mitchell who sucked in two tacklers, but England then had to regroup when Smith was sent to the sin-bin for an early tackle on Yoshitaka Yazaki.
Despite being a man down, scrum-half Harry Randall darted over with ease and he was joined off the bench by Tom Curry, who was making his first Test appearance since the World Cup because of hip surgery.
The replacements streamed off England's bench and Japan took advantage of the comings and goings to run in classy tries through Koga Nezuka and Samisoni Tua.
But there was one last try for Underhill as England finished with 14 men, Ewels taking Michael Leitch out low resulting in a yellow and then red card.
Defensive steel pleases Borthwick
England head coach Steve Borthwick told Rugby Pass TV:
"I'm really pleased with the result and I thought the application of the players was really excellent.
"Clearly late in the game our cohesion broke up a little against a very fast and skilful Japanese team who took their chances really well. The ball movement of the Japanese team was really excellent and you can tell that over the next period of time their team is going to grow.
"They play in a certain way and are very, very dangerous and we had to defend really well to keep them out, especially in that first 20 minutes."
Jones rues missed opportunities
Japan head coach Eddie Jones told Rugby Pass TV:
"It was a pretty tough game for us. England are a strong, powerful team but I was really pleased with our set-piece work, which kept us in the game for a long period of time.
"We've been working on things in our attack and we created opportunities but we weren't able to finish them.
"Our movement around the ball still isn't sharp enough. But there is real potential here for Japanese rugby."
What's next?
England move on to New Zealand for a two-Test series against the All Blacks, live on Sky Sports. The first Test takes place in Dunedin on July 6 with the second Test in Eden Park on July 13.
