England must capitalise on wounded Wallabies
Hosts need a win to keep up momentum but there can be no complacency against their old enemy
Eddie Jones has warned his team to focus on events on centre stage at Twickenham and to ignore the noises off, as the Wallabies fumble and fret to get their lines right for this afternoon.
Australia’s internal torment would run the risk of luring England into a sense of complacency were it not for the fact that there are several pressing issues facing Jones’s team for their final assignment of the four-match Quilter series, a fixture that will leave a significant mark on their ledger of account.
Victory would be an affirmation of the promise shown against South Africa and New Zealand, an audition passed, too, for several fringe World Cup candidates, such as Newcastle’s Mark Wilson or Exeter’s Ben Moon.
Defeat, though, against a fading, put-upon Wallaby side who lost one of their star turns in back-row forward David Pocock to a neck injury yesterday, would be a stain on England’s record, dragging them back to their mid-year status of underachievement.
This could be the springboard into a new year of promise, or it could presage a winter of doubt and introspection. The stakes are high for both teams. The final act of autumn promises a big reveal.
Australia have been a shadow of their former selves and are on course to be the worst performing Wallaby team in decades, despite reaching the World Cup final here only three years ago, shredding England (33-13) en route, with a lauded coach in Michael Cheika and sharpshooting players all over the park. Bernard Foley, inside centre today but fly-half then, sliced and diced England’s defence. Where are those guys in gold?
Entertaining women in team hotels in some cases. Yet Jones believes that the Wallabies will be animated by the deep-rooted traditional rivalry between the two teams, not to mention the fear of ignominy. An England-australia sporting fixture still has kudos. His message is: Take them lightly at your peril.
“This is going to be their best performance of the year, the game they want to win against the old foe, the mother country, Will Genia’s 100th cap, they’ll be up for it,” said Jones. “It’s England. Australians like nothing better than to beat England at Twickenham. History dictates that this is a pretty special rugby match.
“The Wallabies will see this as a chance to put everything right. They can go [on holiday] to the beach and be kings of the southern hemisphere. Buttons will be pushed to say that they could do something special.” Jones has never lost to Cheika, his old Randwick team-mate, since taking over in the wake of England’s sub-standard World Cup, winning five times in succession.
Another victory would make it a record sequence of success or failure for either country, a notable landmark. All of which makes it imperative for England to deliver.
New Zealand have made it a matter of course to defeat Australia, no matter how proficient the Wallabies have been at certain junctures down the years. Noah’s Ark was under construction when Australia last held the Bledisloe Cup. In that Some of England’s players will not wear Rainbow Laces in support of LGBT rights today as they find them uncomfortable on their feet. Full story, News P7. context, then, England have to do a number on the Wallabies or questions will again be raised as to their killer instinct.
Jones welcomes such tests, even if he might dispute the conclusions that are drawn from them.
“Pressure is relative,” said Jones. “We want to be under pressure all the time because we want to play at our best. That is a good sort of pressure. The only way you grow is by having stress and by having failure. You’ve got to have failure to have growth.”
That is as may be, but with only 10 months until the World Cup kicks off in Japan, England’s accept-
Can hosts make it six wins in a row for first time over Australia?
able period of development through adversity has surely come to an end. Jones believes that his team have “grown”, through the 2018 slump when they lost five Tests in a row, praising the “fighting spirit”, he saw during the summer tour to South Africa, even though the series was lost 2-1.
England will need to bring all those experiences to bear, particularly up front. The benchmark for a decent performance against Australia lies in the forwards. England may not have the heft of the Andrew Sheridan days, when the Wallabies were reduced to the Wobblies in the scrum, collapsing in a heap. England, though, have to produce a top-end set-piece if they are to lay down the platform on which rookie wing Joe Cokanasiga and potent speedster Jonny May might thrive.
There is a huge onus on Jamie George to create the right tone. The Saracen is preferred on merit to Dylan Hartley for the first time against a leading country. Hartley has been in good nick, especially with his line-out throwing.
England misfired in the second half against the All Blacks, and although that deficiency is not all to be laid at George’s door, he will be under particular scrutiny.
Maro Itoje will be in charge of the line-out calling, not his usual area of specialism, and much will depend also on his partnership with Courtney Lawes, the first time the two accomplished locks have started together.
Sam Underhill to build on his rave notices against New Zealand, Manu Tuilagi from the bench, a thousand prayers raised to the heavens, Elliot Daly to show why Jones has so much faith in him at full-back – there are many elements on parade, many issues to be recalibrated or resolved.
It is a day of reckoning in both camps, a finale of consequence.