PRESSURE BUILDS ON WALLABIES
RUGBY UNION: The Wallabies will create another piece of unwanted history if they lose this weekend – they’ll become the first Australian team to lose six games in a row against England since the rivalry began 109 years ago.
Neither team has lost six in a row against the other in the century-old battle but Michael Cheika’s side head into Sunday’s (1am AEST) clash at Twickenham having lost the previous five encounters.
That started when England pulled off their historic 3-0 clean sweep of the Wallabies in Australia in June 2016, followed by wins at Twickenham later that year and November 2017.
Australia will start underdogs after a disastrous 2018 but they will be buoyed by winning last weekend’s match against Italy.
One player who will not be weighed down by the recent history against the Poms is bullocking tighthead prop Taniela Tupou, who was impressive in the starting role against Italy, scoring a try and stinging rivals in defence.
“I haven’t played against England before, I know they have a good scrum and we’ll be going there having done our homework to see what we can do,” Tupou said.
“If am lucky enough to get picked I will give it everything.”
Already, this Wallabies side has created history as the first Australian side to lose 3-0 in a series to England, the first to lose a home series to Ireland, the first to lose home and away in one year to Scotland, the first to lose to Wales in a decade, and the first to slip to seventh in the world rankings.
They’ve moved back up to sixth after the 26-7 win against Italy, and ending their losing streak to England would provide some positivity ahead of their World Cup campaign next year.