Harry Wilson believes the Wallabies are ready to test England’s reported lack of unity at Twickenham while looking to unleash a key ‘X-factor’ strike weapon from their bench.
The build-up to Sunday’s Nations Championship Test has been dominated by stories about unrest within the England camp at their Pennyhill Park base, leaving Australia’s captain Wilson to suggest his team will be out to discover whether there’s any truth in the supposed disunity.
Asked on the eve of the match whether any unrest in the opposition camp might galvanise or disrupt the hosts, Wilson said: “It could go one or two ways for them, and I guess it’s on us to put them under pressure to see how close they are as a team.”
But the skipper was also keen to make the point of just what a united outfit his own team has become.
“We know how close we are, how much we care for each other, and how much we love playing for our coach and coaching staff,” Wilson said.
“So I’m really only worried about us, and I just want us to keep keep caring for this jersey, keep caring for every person in our group.”
A report had claimed England players wanted showdown talks with coach Steve Borthwick during the July tour because of a toxic environment.
But leading England players responded with indignation this week, with Jamie George declaring they would demonstrate their loyalty to Borthwick with a stirring performance.
Yet Wilson believes his men are primed for “an epic battle in the forwards” as they seek to make amends for being outplayed at Twickenham last year.
The Queenslander is particularly enthused by the new impact role for one of their best, usual back-row starter Rob Valetini.
Last November, Australia suffered when the England second-half reinforcements came on — but now, led by Valetini, he’s backing the likes of Taniela Tupou and Carlo Tizzano to fight fire with fire against the so-called ‘Pom Squad’.
“It’s different for Bobby, and it’s just a genuine X factor coming off the bench,” Wilson said.
“It’s rugby now, a lot of teams have some really strong players coming off the bench, and we’ve got one of the best players in his position in the world coming off the bench. So he can be some genuine X factor if it’s close when he comes on.
“Having a player like him coming on gives the boys a lot of confidence, and that’s what England did to us last year. Hopefully, Bobby can really spark us on the bench again this year.”
Harry Wilson led Australia to a famous victory at Twickenham two years ago. (Getty Images: CameraSport/Andrew Kearns)
The Wallabies’ last-gasp win at Twickenham in 2024 was a breakthrough moment for Wilson himself in the early days of his captaincy, as he scored a try and had an inspirational game.
Now “comfortable” in the leadership role, he’s overseeing a team which has “a lot to be excited about” and is ready to rebound from the two recent chastening defeats by a rampant New Zealand.
“We definitely want to be us. We want to play our own game,” said Wilson.
“We’ve seen this year when we do play our style of footy how much we can hurt teams.
“In the South Africa win, when we really backed our skills and kept attacking, we really played some really good footy, and we learned some valuable lessons in those New Zealand games. We really need to take them forward.”
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