The next chapter in the storied rivalry between England and Australia will be written tomorrow afternoon, as Steve Borthwick’s side take on the Wallabies at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. This will be the first meeting between the two sides since the 2022 Summer Tour, which saw an Eddie Jones led England team record a 2-1 series win over the Aussies.
The series saw Australia win the first match of the trio, in what was their first victory over England since the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool stages. England had since established a firm grasp of control over their Southern Hemisphere counterparts, with 10 wins in their past eleven meetings. Despite the rivalry simmering down to quite a red rose dominated run of results, England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth believes that the Anglo-Aussie rivalry still burns as bright as ever.
“I think they love coming to Twickenham and trying to take that scalp, I really do. I think there’s a very Aussie thing that they want to beat the English. It transpires that we feel exactly the same so I think it’s a great rivalry. I’m looking forward to seeing Harry Potter, who was a great boy (at Leicester Tigers), I’m looking forward to having a catch up with him after the game.
“Geoff Parling the same, he’s made a great career for himself out in Australia. I’m looking forward to those connections and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of ex-pats in the crowd making it a good atmosphere for the Aussies as well.”
Wigglesworth was the replacement scrum half when Australia handed England their 2015 Rugby World Cup exit, with Stuart Lancaster’s side becoming the first host nation of the tournament to be dumped out in the pool stages. Wigglesworth expressed how he had blocked out any memory of nine years ago, and was not overjoyed at being reminded of the last time Australia beat England at Twickenham.
“Jesus, I had (forgot) until then. Thank you. Flipping heck. There’s been enough of that this week without me adding to it. It’s sport. Any record then changes at some point, it re-sets, and then these things happen. It’s why there are rivalries; why you want to turn up and get excited about it. They will want the first win against England since 2015 at Twickenham and we’ll want the opposite, to go and show what we can do. It’ll be a full-blooded affair, that’s for sure.”
England captain Jamie George echoed the thoughts of his attack coach, and laid down his thoughts on the rivalry with the Wallabies. The hooker still believes the rivalry to be hitting it’s boiling point in time for kick-off, and expects nothing less than a fired up Australian side, with pockets of ex-pats cheering on the gold shirts on in South West London.
“I think it’s a massive rivalry. I think there’s a lot to be said for for the rivalry that’s there. I respect what they’re doing. As I said, I think Joe Schmidt is a fantastic coach, someone that I’ve spoken to a lot after games, and, you know, he’s a great guy.
“But also, you know, he seems like he’s the perfect person to take Australia on over these next few years now, and you know, a big 12 months of them coming up. So I still think it’s, I still think it’s a big rivalry. I think it’s historic. And, you know, it’s, it’s very exciting.”
Back to Wigglesworth, and the coach gave an insight into what England are expecting from the Aussie’s not-so-secret weapon. Joe Schmidt is set to unleash Joseph Suaalii, with the former Sydney Rooster rugby league player set for his first professional match of rugby union. The code-switching footballer has been named to start in the centres on Saturday, with Wigglesworth calling upon the rugby league expertise of England coach Kevin Sinfield, to devise a plan of action to halt his attack.
“It’ll be really interesting won’t it? I don’t think Joe Schmidt, the world-class coach that he is, puts him in unless he’s ready. He’s obviously played at school and has been ready for this move for a while. He’s obviously an incredible athlete and talent, which is why he’s come over with the reputation and the price tag he’s got. We’ll look at him in his rugby league. Kev [Sinfield] will give us a good insight there and we’ll make sure we do our due diligence in the next couple of days.
“Ultimately, the players we’ve got will adapt on Saturday afternoon. There’s no tape of him in rugby union. There’s tape of an athlete that we’re going to have to contain. We’re going to have to adapt to see where he defends and what that looks like on the day.”
After three consecutive defeats to New Zealand, England take on their Oceanic cousins Australia, in a breath of fresh air for Borthwick’s side. Wigglesworth expressed that his side are looking for redemption, as England target their first win since the Summer opener against Japan. It was a heart-breaking end to the Allianz battle with the All Blacks, and Wigglesworth is eager to not have a repeat of the hush of frustration that consumed the England fans at full time.
“We were all disappointed not to get over the line against New Zealand. With the time between the games, it didn’t feel like we’d gone back-to-back like the summer tour was like. We’ve always known these challenges were coming.
“Our job as coaches has to be really well prepped for each opposition and make it really clear for the players the difference of styles and what to potentially expect. Again, we know with Joe Schmidt that there will be stuff we have to react to really well on the day.”
“Every game is different so I don’t think it felt familiar, you’re just trying to help in terms of solutions within the game on the day. We obviously had the issues we did late in the game and you’re trying to mitigate against them as much as you can and give yourself the chance to win it.
“We didn’t and that’s sport because we’re sat here having a very different conversation and two inches to the left… those are the highs and lows, that’s why we all turn up and we all love it.”
