Eddie Jones told his England team the All Blacks are ‘there for the taking’ after putting a half century of points on Japan.
A week after the shock home loss to Argentina, Twickenham witnessed a seven-try hammering of the Brave Blossoms.
A Freddie Steward-inspired England were far from perfect ahead of next Saturday’s eagerly awaited showdown with New Zealand. But Jones saw enough to convince him his side has the potential to repeat its epic World Cup semi-final victory in the fixture.
He said: “England have only won 19 per cent of Tests against New Zealand so there’s a narrative that says England can’t beat New Zealand.
“But it’s not mission impossible. The 2019 World Cup showed that with the right attitude and the right gameplay history can be broken.
“If we go after them they’re there for the taking. And we’re going to go after them.”
A day which started with such disappointment for England at the Women’s World Cup took time to improve in front of a sell-out crowd.
Japan would later pay tribute to England’s pressure game but for long periods they were clunky in a way they can’t afford to be going forward.
Team captain Owen Farrell, presented with a ceremonial Samurai Sword by the opposition at the final whistle, was nonetheless happier with England's improved cutting edge.
“It's not that we didn't make mistakes this week, we just reacted better,” he said.
"We didn't worry too much, didn’t think too much. Sometimes when you come together for the first game in a while you overthink things. We wanted to show the best of ourselves.”
Fullback Steward had one of those days where everything he tried came off from the moment he bagged the first try on 12 minutes.
England won lineout ball on the visitors’ 22 and drove it infield, Farrell fed Marcus Smith who slipped it out the back to Steward, who did the rest.
Another day that might have lit the fuse but England’s timing was off and despite Ellis Genge bossing scrum time, they struggled for cohesion.
Smith was charged down then intercepted, Tom Curry knocked on when Jonny Hill was in and the crowd continued to talk amongst themselves.
Cue Steward to come to England’s rescue, fielding a ball deep in his own half and running it back 40 metres to lay the foundation for Smith to score.
Again England could not kick on and it was Japan who claimed the next two scores through penalties - and might have had a try but for Jonny May scrambling back to deny Dylan Riley at the expense of a yellow card.
With England taking in water Steward again appeared with a bucket, this time regathering his own kick for Guy Porter to score the first of his two tries.
At 24-6 they swapped ends with the result not in doubt and finally seemed to relax. Genge ploughed over, followed by Porter from a clever Farrell dink.
Japan did pull one back through Naoto Saito as England’s level dropped again, but Henry Slade came off the bench to steady the ship and two late tries put a healthy gloss on the scoreline.
ENGLAND - Tries: Steward, Smith 2, Porter 2, Genge, penalty. Cons: Farrell 6. Pen: Farrell 5.
JAPAN - Try: Saito. Con: Yamasawa. Pens: Yamasawa 2.
