England proved too strong for Australia in the first Test at Brisbane, despite the Wallabies scoring four tries to three the English made up an 11-point margin by converting all of their tries and sinking six penalty goals.
More of the wash-up from Wallabies vs England
» Eddie Jones – genius or madman?
» Five talking points
» Pocock ruled out of series
» Match report: Eddie’s England too good
» DIY player ratings
» Roar Forum – what changes should the Wallabies make?
» Watch the full highlights
Final score
Australia 28
England 39
After months of verbal jousting and anticipation, Michael Cheika’s Wallabies will meet Eddie Jones’ England on the turf of Suncorp Stadium, kicking off the three game series. Join The Roar for all the thrilling live action and highlights from 8pm (AEST).
The English will be searching for revenge against a Wallabies side that knocked them out of their own World Cup, handing them a 33-13 loss to send them packing from the Pool stages just last year.
This will be the first ever three-Test series played in Australia between the old enemies in 107 years, having played 44 games dating all the way back to 1909.
Despite holding a 25 to 18 win-loss record (with one draw) against England, the Wallabies have been in lean form recently, losing four of the past six games to the Red Roses.
Since the aforementioned game at Twickenham though, both sides have gone through periods of change, England in particular stripping down their coaching staff and ringing the changes on and off the field.
England have bounced back sensationally since their last meeting with the green and gold, with former Australian coach Eddie Jones leading the charge through an undefeated Six Nations tournament earlier in the year.
“We have a young squad with an average age of 24 so we are still developing and improving.” Jones said of his rejuvenated side. “It’ll be a great challenge for us and one we’re looking forward to meeting head on.”
Team News
Jones’ adversary, Michaela Cheika, has been forced to pull together a new look Wallabies line up for the first Test, mixing some old hats with a handful of debutants.
“We have a good mix of new blood and players who have been connected to the group for some time,” said Cheika. “The energy and enjoyment within the group has been excellent.”
The Brumbies Rory Arnold, Western Force flyer Dane Haylett-Petty and Queensland Red Samu Kerevi will make their Wallaby debuts in the run on 15, starting at second row, wing and inside centre respectively.
Fellow debutant Nick Frisby will slot into the reserves bench, with Nick Phipps at scrum half to start the game.
Captain Stephen Moore will also be playing in his 103rd Test, surpassing Matt Giteau and Stephen Larkham as the fourth most capped Wallaby of all time.
For England, Jones has sensationally dropped fly half George Ford to the bench in place of 24-year old Owen Farrell.
Ford was hit hard by the British media after an average performance against the Welsh two weeks ago, slotting just one from seven shots on goal in England’s 14-point win.
Despite being initially passed on by Jones for the touring party, Luther Burrell will start alongside Farrell at inside centre after getting the late call up.
Prediction
England have won just three times in Australia in their long history with the Wallabies, the last of those coming six years ago, by just a single point in a 21-20 thriller, so the home ground advantage can’t be stressed enough.
Eddie Jones’ men will no doubt find the conditions, home crowd and rabid Aussie line up a tough ask to contend with, but their recent revival since the World Cup under Jones means anything is possible as the English find themselves in the middle of their best form in years.
Although the Australians are sporting some fresh faces, they’ve been in top form throughout the Super Rugby competition and have a sold-out Suncorp Stadium on their side.
It’s going to be a tight one, but the Wallabies should edge the Red Roses out by a few points.
Australia to win by 5
Can the Wallabies kick off their international season with a big win against the old enemy? Or will Eddie Jones return home with a blistering victory on the road? Catch all the live highlights and international action on The Roar from 8pm (AEST).
alexnemer
Guest
looks cool
Old Bugger
Guest
Sean Good points. Simmons will be a huge loss IMO but the incident itself, just looked so innocuous to end up being so serious. Damn those back injuries. I think you may be right going with Slipper and Kepu. Yep - I thought Kerevi/Kurindrani were too one-dimensional also. Neither of them showed any effort to try an off-load when the opportunity arose. IMO, another pass from them would've opened up more opportunities rather than taking the tackle and relying on Hooper or Pocock, to rescue the ruck. There were numerous attacking options with sending the ball wide that seemed to die, once it got out to the flanks. I don't know what was planned but you're right - a distinct lack of support stymied a lot of opportunities, for the WBs. If the WBs want to open the game up, then they will need to improve their attack and support lines just to get, numbers around the ball. Once again leadership becomes a concern. Surely, Cheiks couldn't lose if he chose someone who can last 80mins, for starters???
TheWhizzKid
Guest
Loose forwards need to be able to adapt to playing tight when it's required of them - both the AB and Australia loose forwards needed to front up more in the tight stuff. Hansen/Read figured it out after half time and along with the substitute of 7 things went much better in the second half. Incidentally McCaw would have worked it out after about 5 minutes (after a few years playing for the ABs). Cheika/Pocock/Cooper/Fardy between them couldn't work it out for 80 minutes. While the front row had their problems I suspect half the problem with the Aussie scrum is a 2nd row not pushing hard enough...
chuck
Guest
Cole had Sio on toast you bet !!! he and Hartley did a number on him by getting Sio to turn in and thats by putting presure on Sio right hand shoulder with the other english prop has too be strong in keeping it straight with the help of his locks and that mean changing their stance Sio won the first two ok but the second one was a big call by the ref .cant wait for the next test to see what adjustment Australia makes.come on wallabies
Xiedazhou
Guest
The problem was not so much Kerevi and Kurandrani, it was the poor service they received from the 10. Kerevi distributed better than Foley did. As the England defence pressured Foley he became clueless.
Xiedazhou
Guest
Foley failed to direct the Australians around the park. His place kicking was poor, his defence suspect at times, he failed to find touch with a penalty. His response to the the rush defence was non-existent. He failed to catch the pass thrown to him by Folau that lead to the England try. (True it was an abysmal pass, however I note some are willing to blame Kerevi for the resultant try, but no mention of Foleys role in it. Had another 10 put in that performance there would be multiple articles calling for his head...
samitra
Guest
chieka in Melbourne larkham in Sydney.
samitra
Guest
super deluded wally?
Kane
Guest
Aus move back to second after SA loss
Highlander
Guest
How do you fit Skelton into that lineout ?
Sean
Guest
A myriad of mistakes by the Wallabies lost them a game that they could have put to bed within half an hour. They simply weren't clinical enough, yet I must admit watching all three games today, all the southern hemisphere sides looked rusty. Discipline lost the game here. The stats for possession, territory, line breaks, offloads etc were all in Australia's favour, yet a penalty count of 15-8 to England was telling. Hopefully Cheika's position as a spectator, like the rest of us, will mean that these mistakes are fully addressed. Several talking points here: 1. Rob Simmons is likely to miss the rest of the series with his early injury and yet there are fears that the Australian lineout will completely fall apart. Why aren't all of the team's locks adept at making the calls? The lineout and the scrum will have to be polished to nullify England's advantages. 2. This has been the second time this year that Sio has put in a poor performance, often overextending and in my opinion looked weak in the scrum, regardless of foul play by Dan Cole. I don't doubt Sio as a test level prop but it must be shown that lessons must be learned from mistakes. Slipper, who has been part of a dominant Reds scrum this year, may make a case for a starting berth next week. Kepu must start as well. 3. Last night's debutantes did not put in poor performances but it must be said that the big centre combination of KK was a bit of a failed experiment. In my opinion Cheika must be bold and play Folau at 13 next week. Kuridrani is one-dimensional: he catches the ball and runs straight. DHP is more than up to playing test level and should do well at fullback in Folau's place. 4. Attacking support. Too many times in attack did I see a single Australian player making contact with no support. Where were his team mates who were meant to tag along with him into contact and form the ruck? On this point, Australia may require extra grunt and in the case of Pocock being concussed, should bring Liam Gill into the squad. 5. Who leads Australia? It's up to the leadership team to make decisions and keep the team in the right frame of mind throughout the game. The fact that Australia lost their composure after twenty minutes means that Moore failed in his job as captain in keeping his team in the right head space. Need I mention the call to shoot for posts?
Andy
Guest
Skelton only has size. Itoje and Cruis have size, class and athletiscism. Itoje jumps without lifters, Skelton needs hydraulic pumps, a small explosion and a following wind to get two inches off the turf
Jono
Guest
A bit late to the party. The concerns about the Wallabies being able to compete against the ABs started weeks ago when the losses by the Super teams to NZ oppositions started to really mount up.
Cynical Play
Roar Rookie
Poite was a lottery . nobody could follow it, he is a joke and simply could not let the ball come out. he is the reason fans switch off rugby,
wardad
Guest
We should all aspire to be more gracious as well ,its a good quality to have .
Pita
Guest
I wasn't gutted at all, you make your bed you sleep in it plain & simple. Us kiwis give oz something to aspire to, so we're happy to continue to achieve more than they do.
Pita
Guest
...good to know the Bledisloe will be retained yet again.
Michael R
Guest
From my perspective, the 2 centres worked very well together. Kerevi has "soft hands" and great balance - for such a big man. Kuridrani is all pace & power - and worried the English whenever he had the ball. Their impact in the 1st 20 or 25 mins of the game was outstanding - IMHO. But from then, Australia did not get as much possession - and their impact was less. I am thinking that the front-row and the "balance" of the back-row will concern Cheika - much more.
Jonny G
Guest
If Skelton doesn't have physicality, then we don't really have any second rowers that are even close to having the physicality required for test level. The closest we have at the moment is Horwill, who's yet to return to his 2011 form, and it certainly isn't Dean Mumm. Our forwards went missing tonight when we really needed them, we need to stop relying on the odd Pocock turnover to give us momentum in the forwards.
In Brief
Guest
To be honest the Wallabies would have been about 2 points behind if Foley had kicking all his goals, and the scoreboard pressure would have then had an impact.