5 talking points ahead of England’s Twickenham encounter with old foes Australia
Eddie Jones’ side take on the country of his birth in the Autumn Nations Series.
England are heavy odds-on favourites to topple Australia when the rivals meet for the first time since the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup.
Red Rose fans toasted an emphatic win that day and here the PA news agency examines five talking points heading into Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series collision at Twickenham.
Eddie throws a curveball
Manu Tuilagi is in peak physical shape after a fat loss programme that has seen his waistline shrink but his muscle mass increase and he recently clocked his top speed on GPS tracking. The improved conditioning could not have been better timed, either, as against Australia he starts on the wing for only the second time in his 45-cap career. His previous outing in the position came against New Zealand in 2014 and it was the briefest of experiments as his lack of gas was highlighted during an unsuccessful breakaway try-scoring opportunity. Given the freedom to rampage across Twickenham, his new role generates excitement and nervousness in equal measure.
Next hurdle for Smith’s meteoric rise
A point to prove
Jones stirs the pot
Wilting revival
If Australia do have an inferiority complex, it will only have been magnified if they dare to dwell on their record against Jones’ England which now stands an immaculate seven wins. Since putting Stuart Lancaster’s men to the sword at the 2015 World Cup, a result that ushered Jones into Twickenham, the Wallabies have endured some lean years. A five-match winning run in the recent Rugby Championship has generated optimism but influential stars such as Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi are missing from their UK tour and the revival hit the buffers with a narrow defeat to Scotland last Saturday and looks destined to deteriorate further.
