Steve Borthwick’s England begin their 2025 autumn campaign on Saturday at home to Australia, with needle between the two sides building as the hosts responded to the Wallabies’ ‘whinging’ jibes.
Speaking to media on Friday, Australia captain Harry Wilson defended his team after a report in the Telegraph on Thursday revealed Borthwick had highlighted concerns over the Wallabies’ breakdown tactics to referee Nika Amashukeli this week.
Conversations between respective head coaches and the referee ahead of an upcoming Test are permitted through official channels, with England said to have highlighted around 40 instances of side-entries by Australia during the recent Rugby Championship.
The revelation has let to accusations from Australia that England are ‘whinging.’
“For us, the refs have a lot on their mind. They’re under the pump. We just want to try and make it as easy as we can for them by trying to be as square as possible, so there’s not too much whinging about it,” Wilson said.
Harry Wilson led Australia as captain vs the British and Irish Lions in the summer
“Firstly, I’d like to question how many of them are illegal. To say they’re dangerous, I know they’re definitely not dangerous.
“To think that we’re getting coached that way, there’s no way Joe Schmidt would coach a team to be illegal at the breakdown.
“I think we’ve had over 2,000 rucks this year and for them to cherry-pick a couple of rucks out of it, it’s quite amusing.
“We’re pretty excited for the opportunity to go there and have a really good fair game and go there and perform. When a team’s playing 10-11 Test matches, any team in the world would have some from the side.
“For us, we think we’re quite good at our attacking breakdown. We try and get in there square early, beat the threat and try and make sure we’ve got quick ball.”
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Luke Cowan-Dickie and Alex Mitchell join Sky Sports to talk all things rugby union ahead of a big month of autumn internationals
Speaking to media at Twickenham on Friday following England’s Captain’s Run, scrum coach Tom Harrison would not be drawn on the issue, but agreed needle between the sides was good for the game.
“Steve [Borthwick] has a conversation with the referees and I’m not involved in those meetings. I think you can respect those meetings to remain private,” Harrison said.
“I think if you watched 100 rucks you would find an offence at one of them, and they play with a lot of rucks.
“In every game there’s always controversial issues around breakdowns, scrum, lineout, offside.
“The game of rugby is grey, we all know that, and the referees play a huge part in the game from an entertainment point of view and a disciplinary point of view. What I would say is Nika is an outstanding referee. He’s strong in his approach.
“One of his strengths as a referee is the breakdown, so I think we are fully supportive of that.
“I can’t say it’s a bad thing [needle ahead of Test match].”
Steve Borthwick is reported to have raised concerns regarding Australia’s breakdown tactics to referees this week
‘England looking for excuses ahead of Wallabies showdown’
Another point of potential contention this week ahead of Saturday’s clash revolved around the two sides’ respective preparation.
Borthwick flagged his side would have had just four training sessions together before this Test, compared to Australia who have been in camp together for four months across the summer’s British and Irish Lions tour, the following Rugby Championship and now the autumn.
“That’s a fact,” Borthwick pointed out, while counterpart Joe Schmidt replied: “This year we have 15 Test matches across 20 weeks, in eight countries, in 10 different time zones. I’d be happy to swap that for four training sessions, to be honest.”
Australia skipper Wilson has since added: “If they want to put that out there as an excuse for them.
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Australia prop Tom Robertson tells Sky Sports what back-to-back wins at Twickenham would mean for the Wallabies squad
“We’ve been playing together all year. We’ve had a lot of footy in a row. It’s been an awesome year, which we’ve loved. Obviously, the continuity is there because we’ve been playing a lot. If we can use that as an advantage for us, that’d be nice.
“After a disappointing result in that Lions series, you always look forward to trying to right some wrongs.
“But in saying that, we’ve played a lot of rugby since and the Lions series for us feels like forever ago after the full-on Rugby Championship we had. But there’s a few battles there I know the boys are excited for.”
England squad to face Australia | Edmed starts for Wallabies at fly-half
Starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12, Fraser Dingwall, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jamie George, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Fin Smith.
Australia: 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Tane Edmed, 9 Jake Gordon; 1 Angus Bell, 2 Billy Pollard, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Jeremy Williams, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson.
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia Loto, 20 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 21 Ryan Lonergan, 22 Hamish Stewart, 23 Filipo Daugunu.
England’s Autumn Nations Series schedule
November 1
England vs Australia – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (3.10pm)
November 8
England vs Fiji – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (5.40pm)
November 15
England vs New Zealand – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (3.10pm)
November 23
England vs Argentina – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (4.10pm)
