Preview: Australia vs England Second Test
Everything you need to know ahead of England's clash with Australia in the second test on Saturday.
England will look to level the series at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane this Saturday after suffering a 30-28 defeat in the opening Test of the three match series.
- When? Saturday, 9 July
- Kick-off? 11am BST
- Where? Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
- Coverage? Watch on Sky Sports Main Event, listen on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, and follow on England Rugby Instagram and Twitter
Eddie Jones has made four changes to the starting lineup ahead of the all-important clash, handing debuts to Tommy Freeman on the wing and Guy Porter at outside centre. Jack van Poortvliet comes in at scrum half to push Danny Care to the bench while Sam Underhill is added to the pack, replacing Tom Curry who is ruled out with concussion. Courtney Lawes will once again captain the side.
Dave Rennie has made seven changes to his match day 23 as the Wallabies look to wrap up the Test series this weekend. Taniela Tupou returns to the side while Brumbies lock Nick Frost is set to make his debut from the bench, potentially partnering Matt Philip who comes in for the suspended Darcy Swain. Jordan Petaia has been moved to full back and Tom Wright makes his first appearance in 2022 from the wing. Michael Hooper will captain the side which is without Quade Cooper who has failed to recover from an injury sustained in last week's pre-match warm up.
Australia celebrated their first victory against the English in front of a home crowd for 12 years last weekend after playing the majority of the game with 14 men, and they will be looking to carry that momentum forward into the second Test where they have the opportunity to seal the series. Their 30-28 triumph was also their first against Jones' side since 2015 - putting an end to eight consecutive defeats against England. Last weekend's success did come at a cost though as Rennie has been forced into changes courtesy of injuries and suspensions.
Teams
England
15. Freddie Steward, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. Guy Porter, 12. Owen Farrell, 11. Tommy Freeman, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Jack van Poortlviet, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Courtney Lawes (C), 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Billy Vunipola.
Finishers
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Mako Vunipola, 18. Joe Heyes, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Jack Willis, 22. Danny Care, 23. Henry Arundell.
Australia
15.Jordan Petaia, 14. Tom Wright, 13. Hunter Paisami, 12. Samu Kerevi, 11. Marika Koroibete, 10. Noah Lolesio, 9. Nic White, 8. Rob Valetini, 7. Michael Hooper (C), 6. Rob Leota, 5. Caderyn Neville, 4. Matt Philip, 3. Taniela Tupou, 2. David Porecki, 1. Angus Bell
Replacements
16. Folau Fainga’a, 17. Scott Sio, 18. James Slipper, 19. Nick Frost, 20. Pete Samu, 21. Jake Gordon, 22. James O'Connor, 23. Izaia Perese
Views from camp
Sam Underhill: "We controlled areas of the game pretty well for a decent chunk of the game but ultimately penalties and discipline cost us. Whether the breakdown was more competitive than we thought it would be or not, we didn’t adapt to the interpretation at the breakdown.
“You can’t have an attack without a functioning attacking breakdown and vice versa – you can’t defend indefinitely, so the breakdown is a pretty good area to target if you want to stifle an attack. It is always a massive area of contention, especially in Test rugby against southern hemisphere sides and especially Australia who go pretty hard at it.
"If you get the breakdown right everything else becomes easier. Hooper is obviously a big breakdown threat. It’s not a case of man-marking him but as a team you are acutely aware that if he’s around the breakdown it’s highly likely he’ll be competing. You have to shift him early because he’s good over the ball.”
Courtney Lawes: "This is a massive competition for us and we want to win but we want to do it in the right way, we don't feel like it's the time to be safe. We want to see what we can do as a team and try to paint a picture for things moving forward as well. Just because we have a new team, a new strategy doesn't mean we don't feel like we're good enough to beat these guys because we certainly do and we're going to do everything we can to make sure we win the series.
"Off the field as a team we are as tight a team as I've ever been a part of in an England jersey and because of that we're all on the same page. We have full confidence that we're going to win this weekend but we also understand that we're going to make some mistakes, we're going to have to tweak some things, find some things out about ourselves and we're going to have to keep on improving.
"The performance is definitely more important, take nothing away from the win because we'd absolutely love to win but developing as a team and taking us in the right direction is at the forefront. It's going to be one hell of a challenge to beat these guys on Saturday but that's exactly what we want, we want to be tested because we want to grow as a team."
Ellis Genge: "I think we just have to better in general, we were only 5% off everywhere which obviously makes a big difference but we were miles off it but at the top level you get punished for being off anything.
"As a player you just want to win everything but Eddie obviously sees a bigger picture than we do. It's about aligning those thoughts and prepping as best as you can because everyone wants to win the World Cup don't they. If someone says to the team you lose 25 on the bounce but you win the World Cup I think they'd take it.
"We want to win every game and if we don't we have to learn from it in preparation to win the next one and the next one's the test tomorrow. We're trying to play a bit differently now and it takes a bit of getting used to but it doesn't excuse losing.
Previous encounters
2 July 2022: Australia 30-28 England - Optus Stadium, Perth
13 November 2021: England 32-15 Australia - Twickenham Stadium, London
19 October 2019: England 40-16 Australia - Oita Stadium, Oita, Japan
24 November 2018: England 37-18 Australia - Twickenham Stadium, London
18 November 2017: England 30-6 Australia - Twickenham Stadium, London
3 December 2016: England 37-21 Australia - Twickenham Stadium, London
25 June 2016: Australia 40-44 England - Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
18 June 2016: Australia 7-23 England - Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
11 June 2016: Australia 28-39 England - Lang Park, Brisbane
3 October 2015: England 13-33 Australia - Twickenham Stadium, London
Key stats
Australia won their most recent match against England last weekend after losing eight in a row previously; it was the Wallabies’ first win against England since 2015 and the first on home soil since June 2010. They haven’t beaten England in Brisbane since June 2004.
Australia have won their last three home men’s Tests, conceding just seven points per game across the first halves in that span; the last time the Wallabies enjoyed a longer winning run at home was an 11-match run from August 2006 to July 2008.
Australia’s Samu Kerevi made 11 carries over the gainline in the 1st Test, the most of any Tier 1 player at the weekend, while his gainline success rate of 73.3% was the best of any of the 19 players to make 10+ carries, with England’s Billy Vunipola ranking second in that category (72.7%).
England are currently on a run of three straight defeats, their longest losing streak since a run of five straight losses between February and June 2018; however, they have won each of the last 23 matches in which they have been leading at half-time.
England have won just one of their last six games away from home however, they have won three of their last four games in Oceania, after winning just one of their previous 12 away games against teams from that continent.
England won 12 of their 13 lineouts against Australia, their 92.3% success rate was the joint best of any Tier 1 nation at the weekend, alongside South Africa; however, they recorded the lowest scrum success rate of any Tier 1 side (50%).
Courtney Lawes is set to win his 100th Test cap (incl. 5 British & Irish Lions caps), becoming just the fourth England men’s player to reach that milestone after Jason Leonard, Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell.
