A much-improved England ran in seven tries to overwhelm Japan at Twickenham and get their autumn campaign back on track.

Guy Porter went over in the final play of the first half, before Ellis Genge bulldozed through after the break.

Porter snaffled his second from Owen Farrell's kick, before a penalty try and Smith topped up England's lead.

Japan's only try came through replacement scrum-half Naoto Saito as the Brave Blossoms failed to push England as hard as they did New Zealand and France earlier this year.

England know their autumn will only get harder, with New Zealand and South Africa next on the fixture list.

But the competent, emphatic way they put the result beyond doubt - on a day that Italy upset Australia - will inject confidence and belief into their preparations.

England find their rhythm

England had vowed to be better prepared, and more prepared to chance their arm after a surprise defeat by Argentina last weekend.

A sense of urgency and ambition was soon evident as Smith threw a mis-pass over the top for Jonny May to break the line early on.

Their sharper focus and keener cutting edge came good in the 12th minute as the combination of Smith and Farrell outflanked Japan's rush defence and fed Steward on a clever, carving line.

Wing Kotaro Matsushima could not hold the Leicester man, who galloped in with May cheering him on in support.

Backline ambition was matched by domination up front. Genge gave his opposing prop Jiwon Koo a torrid time at the scrum, collecting a clutch of penalties, while England's heavy mob were making yards in the loose.

After scoring the first try, Steward created the second. The full-back opted to show his footwork rather than the size of his boot, ending some aerial ping-pong with a weaving run through a scrappy chase and an offload to club team-mate Jack van Poortvliet.

Cokanasiga, brought in for the injured Nowell in the hours before kick-off, took it on and offloaded off the floor for Smith to zip into the corner.

Farrell's conversion from near the advertising hoardings made it 17-0 after 25 minutes and England appeared to be coasting.

Japan sapped some of the hosts' momentum with a couple of Takuya Yamasawa penalties and could have had a prominent piece of field position had they found the corner with a penalty as half-time beckoned.

Instead Steward kept the ball infield and, with the final play of the half, Van Poortvliet spun turnover possession wide for Simmonds to step inside Dylan Riley and feed Porter for a third try.

Seven minutes into the second half, Genge took a wide, flat pass from Van Poortvliet and scattered would-be tacklers to score from close range.

Twenty-five points clear, England took the signal to cut loose.

Two minutes later, Maro Itoje counter-rucked to give England ball against a disorganised defence and the hosts showed all the ruthlessness they lacked a week ago.

Second rows Jonny Hill and David Ribbans kept the ball alive with one-handed overhead offloads before Farrell's cute grubber fell perfectly for Porter.

A penalty try, for Siosaia Fifita's entry into the side of a tryline-bound driven maul, gave England another seven points and a man advantage for the final 10 minutes.

Smith exposed the undermanned defence with a crossfield kick to Steward before latching onto Henry Slade's fly-hack to finish off the move.

England could easily have crept towards their 60-7 record win over Japan - a scoreline from the pair's meeting in the pool stages of the 1987 Rugby World Cup.

But Slade put marginally too much on a grubber kick for May as a series of late opportunities went begging.

Man of the match - Freddie Steward

England coach Eddie Jones to Prime Video: "We played more like ourselves. Last week we were too long term in our view, which was my fault and today we were focused. We left 20 points out there and played some really good rugby.

"It's about playing to our strengths. You want people to recognise an England team playing, and we need to adopt a new style. But today we looked like England. We were in white shirts which might have made a difference."

Japan coach Jamie Joseph to Prime Video: "We were outplayed today and put under a lot of pressure. We conceded a lot of penalties, it's hard to get momentum against a very good defence.

"You have to take your hat off to England. It was a really good game for us in terms of experience. Our goal is the World Cup."

England: Steward; Nowell, Porter, Farrell (capt), May; Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Sinckler, Ribbans, Hill, Itoje, Curry, Simmonds.

Replacements: George, M Vunipola, Heyes, Coles, B Vunipola, Youngs, Slade, Tuilagi.

Japan: Yamanaka; Matsushima, Riley, Nakamura, Van den Heever; Yamasawa, Nagare; Inagaki, Sakate (c), Gu, Dearns, Cornelsen, Leith, Himeno, Tatafu.

Replacements: Norikoshi, Millar, Kizu, Van der Walt, Labuschagne, Saito, Lee, Fifita.