With former All Blacks and USA Eagles coach John Mitchell appointed as their new defence coach, England began their autumn campaign with a tightly contested return victory against South Africa by 12–11, and an equally close loss to world champions New Zealand the following week. Both games were noted for controversial refereeing decisions that were seen to affect the outcome. England then won their remaining games of the autumn against Japan 35–15 and Australia 37–18. The win over Australia represented the completion of a perfect winning record in non-World Cup years over the Wallabies since the appointment of Eddie Jones, and their sixth straight win against the coach's former side since the 2015 World Cup pools.