England and Australia served up a 79-point classic when they met at Twickenham in November 2024 and this could be another exciting ‘Ashes’ clash even though neither sides will be at full-strength.
Match News and Current Form
England begin their final run of fixtures this year as they look to maintain their impressive form from round two of the 2025 Six Nations Championship onwards. Since their narrow 27-22 loss in Ireland to begin that competition, they have reeled off seven successive victories!
George Ford will start at fly-half while Tommy Freeman, who played on the right wing in all three Tests for the British and Irish Lions earlier this year, begins at outside centre. Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie made his debut against France ten years ago and is set to earn his 50th England cap from the bench where he’ll be joined by Fin Smith who played in all five of the Lions’ non-Test games during their tour of Australia.
A 19-15 win in Tokyo last weekend brought an end to Australia’s three-match losing streak and they will be keen to build on that victory across the coming four weekends as they target a return to the top-six of the World Rugby rankings before the end of the year which would see them seeded for the next Rugby World Cup.
Coach Joe Schmidt has his hands tied somewhat ahead of this fixture as it falls outside the World Rugby window so the national teams have to pay European clubs to call-up players! Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Max Jorgensen and Taniela Tupou all return to the XV after missing the win over Japan, while Tane Edmed starts at fly-half as Schmidt awaits the return of some more big stars next weekend.
Head-to-Head History
After losing ten of the previous 11 H2Hs, Australia triumphed 42-37 and ended a ten-year wait for a H2H victory at Twickenham when the teams met nearly 12 months ago.
Hot Stats and Streaks
England have won their last four home games while conceding 14-25 points in each.
England conceded zero first-half points in two of their three summer internationals.
The final margin has been in single figures in four of Australia’s last five away games.
Australia have scored 30+ points in only one of their last 13 matches.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Tommy Freeman became the first England player to score a try in all five of their SNC games earlier this year, crossing the line in all three of their games at Twickenham! Max Jorgensen came off the bench to score the winning try in last year’s H2H and the English-born winger has registered six further tries for Australia since.
England have plenty of first-choice players out injured including Borthwick favourite George Furbank at full-back. Australia are without the English based trio of James O’Connor, Len Itikau and Tom Hooper.
Betting Analysis
We expect England to continue their winning streak but recommend backing the winning margin to be 1-10 points.
Author: Tom Penn