Rugby’s Autumn International England vs Australia
Australia is confidently looking for their 3rd consecutive win of this autumn season. They have beaten All Blacks and Wales early this season and are going to play against England in their 3rd match.
Australia and England are considered big arch rivals when it comes to sport. Every rugby fan anxiously waits for their match. Now this anxious wait is almost over as both teams are going to face each other today at Twickenham Stadium, London.
Past Record
The past record between both countries is more in favour of Australia. Both teams have played 39 matches. Australia won 24 matches, while England won 15 only. 1 match was drawn.
But England has a better record at Twickenham stadium. Both have played 19 test matches at this ground, England won 10 out of those 19 and Australia won 8. One match was drawn.
England has one more edge over Australia and that is they won when both teams last played against each other. That match was during England’s tour of Australia in June this year. England beat Australia with the score of 21-20 in that match.
England Problems
England, who lost against New Zealand in their first match of this autumn season, was hugely criticized. Everyone accused their slow start as a reason for their failure.
England captain Lewis Moody and manager Martin Johnson both have warned their team that they don’t want a slow start, which they had against New Zealand. Both admit that England needs to raise their standard when playing against Australia.
Moody said, “England needs to show that they are a quality side”. He said “England has to perform well if they want to restrict Australia from their 3rd consecutive win against England at Twickenham stadium”.
Moody said he is very confident for the game against Australia. He said the only mistake they did against New Zealand was their slow star, otherwise they would have won the match. He said England showed their abilities to everyone in the 2nd half.
If England play against Australia as they played against New Zealand in the 2nd half, then they will be able to win their 2nd consecutive match against them.
Johnson also believes that although his team lost against New Zealand in the last game, that was a better performance from England against New Zealand. England never used to perform very well against New Zealand.
Johnson admits the mistakes they made in the game against New Zealand and said that England has no room for mistakes now. If England makes the same mistakes against Australia, then they will lose the game very quickly. He said they have to play an attacking
game and that Australia plays with a huge amount of variation and his team needs to be very sharp.
Australia Problem
Australia has a few issues in their scrums. Australia’s scrums didn’t play well against Wales in the last match. It was Australia’s backline players, who performed against Wales and helped their team to win.
England will try to take control over Australia’s scrums and Australia has to come-up with strong planning to avoid that problem.
On the other hand, Australian coach Robbie Deans is very confident. Australia has many young players in their team, who have shown a lot of maturity. He said the energy level is very high due to young blood and people will see a huge amount of change in
Australia’s team.
Australia Team Change
Australian star player Stephen Moore is back in the team. He got a lower back injury just before the last match against Wales and he had to miss the match. His comeback in team will make Australian side stronger.
Our Opinion
Although, Australia has healthier record over England in the past, this time both teams are looking balanced.
Autumn internationals:
England v Australia
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 13 November
Teams
England (15-1) :Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Nick Easter, Lewis Moody (capt), Tom Croft; Tom Palmer, Courtney Lawes; Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, Andrew Sheridan
Replacements: Steve Thompson, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, Hendrie Fourie, Danny Care, Charlie Hodgson, Delon Armitage
Australia (15-1):Kurtley Beale; James O'Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Ben McCalman, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom (capt); Nathan Sharpe, Mark Chisholm; Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore,
Benn Robinson
Replacements: Berrick Barnes, James Slipper, Dean Mumm, Luke Burgess, Richard Brown, Lachie Turner, Huia Edmonds
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