Marler hopes for battle alongside his Quins mates
JOE Marler is relishing two huge Autumn confrontations with some old southern hemisphere rivals.
He especially expects the Wallabies to be pumped up to end their terrible record against former boss Eddie Jones.
England prop Marler insists the opening clash with Tonga in 13 days’ time will be the perfect opportunity to examine the qualities of some of the younger members of the Test squad.
But it is the mouthwatering battles with Australia and then world champions South Africa which he admits to be looking forward to most.
Marler, 31, in line to add to his 72 caps, says: “Australia will be tough as they are much better than they have been previously. We are seven and 0 under Eddie’s reign and they will be chomping at the bit to do us over.
“Then it’s South Africa, which will be tasty. We don’t talk about that fateful night in Japan, but just thinking about that one wets the whistle!
“It’s the Autumn Internationals. They are not friendlies, they are good opportunities to blood these youngsters outside of a tournament in front of 80,000 at Twickenham. It’s a good way to find out about players who have not done it before as well as testing the old guard.
“We only have five campaigns until the World Cup starts. It’s the two-year cycle where Eddie will want to nail down the style we want to play and which players he wants to pick to play that style.”
Marler would love for Harlequins teammates Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt to be standing alongside him on the Twickenham pitch at some stage during November. Fly-half Smith and No.8 Dombrandt enjoyed their first taste of England Test action against the USA and Canada in July and Marler says: “I’m biased towards them. Both are enormously talented and it will be nice to see Marcus shine on the international front.”