England v Japan Rugby World Cup 2023 predictions & betting tips + grab a £40 free bet from Paddy Power

Where to watch England v Japan

You can watch England v Japan in the Rugby World Cup on ITV1, 8pm Sunday

Match prediction & best bets

England -22
1pt Evs Coral, Ladbrokes

Japan to score under 14.5 points
3pts 10-11 Betfair, Hills

Bet on Japan to score under 14.5 points here and get £40 in Rugby World Cup free bets from Paddy Power

Japan lost 52-13 the last time they faced England, and the Red Rose have conceded totals of three (three times), seven, ten and 11 points in their pool matches against tier-two teams at the last three World Cups.

England v Japan betting odds

England 1-20
Japan 17-1
Draw 50-1

England v Japan: head-to-head stats

Recent meetings England have won all three meetings with Japan, the first of which came at the 1987 World Cup while the most recent came at Twickenham last autumn

Last match England were sent off red-hot favourites at Twickenham and duly obliged, running out 52-13 winners against the Brave Blossoms in November 2022

Longest winning streak: England are on a three-match winning streak against Japan

England v Japan matchday preview

Japan stole the show as World Cup hosts in 2019, beating Ireland and Scotland to reach the quarter-finals for the first time, and they will be encouraged after kicking off with a 42-12 victory over tournament debutants Chile last weekend.

But overall they failed to build on the form they showed four years ago and a six-try rout of the lowest ranked team in this World Cup has to be put into perspective.

The Brave Blossoms were beaten 52-13 by England at Twickenham less than a year ago and disappointed at this year’s Pacific Nations Cup, winning just one game.

Japan were beaten 24-22 by Samoa, then edged Tonga 21-16 before going down 35-12 to Fiji and have generally struggled to put up points against the better teams.

England’s record against the handicap when facing tier-two teams isn’t great – they have rewarded their backers four times in 12 pool matches at the last five tournaments – but their defence has always proved hard to crack.

In 2019 they conceded just 20 points in their three pool games, beating Tonga 35-3, USA 45-7 and Argentina 39-10, and while they were beaten by Australia and Wales at home in 2015, they still shipped only 11 points in their clash with Fiji and beat Uruguay 60-3.

England showed their steel in their first match, playing most of the game with 14 men but still triumphing 27-10 against Argentina.

While Japan ran in six tries against Chile, they were second best in terms of runs made, defenders beaten and offloads, and they missed 27 tackles.

The other standout result in the last year for the Brave Blossoms was a 38-31 defeat to New Zealand, but they were 21-3 down after half an hour and an unfamiliar All Blacks side had Brodie Retallick sent off in the second half. 

England may feel they have done the hard work in their pool by beating Argentina, but their 14 men couldn’t get across the Pumas' tryline so they still have something to prove after poor results in their warm-up games and they look to have been set a fairly modest task of covering a 22-point handicap.

But a better bet looks to be backing England’s defence to get the better of an unconvincing opposition attack.

England form

England arrived at the World Cup on a run of five defeats from their last six matches but showed great strength in their opening 27-10 win over Argentina

Japan form

Japan beat Chile 42-12 in their first match of the tournament but lost their warm-up matches to an All Black XV (twice) and to Italy.

England v Japan teams 

England: F Steward; J May, J Marchant, M Tuilagi, E Daly; G Ford, A Mitchell; J Marler, J George, K Sinckler, M Itoje, O Chessum, C Lawes, B Earl, L Ludlam 
Replacements: T Dan, E Genge, W Stuart, G Martin, B Vunipola, B Youngs, M Smith, O Lawrence 

Japan: S Masirewa; K Matsushima, T Osada, R Nakamura, J Naikabula; R Matsuda, Y Nagare; K Inagaki, S Horie, J Gu, J Cornelsen, A Fakatava, M Leitch, P Labuschagne, K Himeno 
Replacements:  A Sakate, C Millar, A Ai Valu, W Dearns, K Shimokawa, N Saito, D Riley, L Lemeki 

England v Japan team news 

England: England make just three changes from the team that beat Argentina. Lewis Ludlam replaces the suspended Tom Curry in the back row while both props are rotated.

Japan: Japan make four changes to their team with Rikiya Matsuda, who scored 12 points against Chile, starting at fly-half again

Make the most of your £40 Rugby World Cup free bet: all of our England v Japan Tips

With Paddy Power giving away £40 in Rugby World Cup 2023 free bets, you might feel spoilt for choice. Here are some betting tips for the England v Japan match that you may want to consider:

England -22 @ 10-11 with Paddy Power
Under 14.5 Japan points @ 4-5 with Paddy Power
Joe Marchant to score a try @ 2-1 with Paddy Power

*Note that these odds are subject to change

Grab a £40 Paddy Power Rugby World Cup free bet on England v Japan

We’ve already mentioned that Paddy Power are offering a £40 free bet for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. 

Well, you can follow these simple steps outlined below to grab your £40 free bet to place on England v Japan, during the Rugby World Cup 2023 on Sunday night. It's fast, secure and straightforward.

1. Head over to Paddy Power through this link and click the Join button on their homepage
2. Create your username and password
3. Make a deposit of £10 or more using a card & place a bet on a sportsbook market with odds of 1-2 or greater
4. You will be rewarded with £40 of free bet tokens added to your balance

Paddy Power Rugby World Cup 2023 betting sign-up offer: terms and conditions

It's worth taking a few minutes to read through the terms and conditions associated with the new player promotion before signing up. Doing so will help you get a better grasp of the details of the Rugby World Cup 2023 betting offer and what's expected of you as a new player.

1. New UK & ROI customers only
2. Minimum deposit £10 bet at minimum odds of 1-2 to qualify 
3. Get £40 in free bets, valid for 30 days
4. SMS verification required
5. Bets placed on Greyhound racing markets are excluded.
6. Only deposits via cards will qualify

Click for more free bets and betting offers from the Racing Post

Commercial notice: This article contains affiliate links. Offers are handpicked and come from operators our experts have first-hand experience of. Opening an account via one of these links will earn revenue for the Racing Post, which will be used to continue producing our award-winning coverage of horseracing and sports betting.