Smell that? That delicious whiff, sometimes bitter, but all the sweeter for its bluster? ‘Tis the distinctive funk of Australia-England sporting acrimony back on the breeze. The Kangaroos and England battling over rugby league Tests. The Lionesses and the Matildas resuming their World Cup feud. Stuart Broad and the Barmy Army playing at villainy before the Ashes next month. And the green grass of Twickenham twitching at the Wallabies’ return this weekend.
Last year’s meeting was a monumental gunfight of multiple twists, with 79 points scored and a lead that changed five times. Australia entered as heavy underdogs and England duly led 15-3 inside half an hour. The Wallabies pegged it back to 18-20 at half-time and then raced further ahead after the break until England gobbled up the 10-point lead with twin strikes for 30-28. With five minutes to go, Australia seized an intercept to go ahead only for England to respond in the 78th minute for 37-35.
Then came the extraordinary moment Australian rugby had waited over a decade for. In the 83rd minute, with Twickenham roaring and every player running on fumes, the Wallabies rumbled downfield. After mauling for seven phases, the gold backline fanned left for one last throw of the dice. A swivel offload, a tip-on pass, a hand-off. Then Len Ikitau surges into the line, fends, draws his man and flicks out the back for winger Max Jorgensen to streak down the line and score. A famous 37-42 victory.
It was the Wallabies’ first win at the home of rugby since 2015. More importantly it gave Joe Schmidt’s men the spark of belief they needed to keep climbing off the canvas against the world’s best sides in 2025. That they did, narrowly losing 2-1 to the British & Irish Lions, then shocking the world champions South Africa at Ellis Park by overturning a 22-0 deficit to romp home 38-22. There were last-gasp wins over Argentina and Fiji before the vanquishing of Eddie Jones’s Japan last week.
Usually, a Wallabies squad bearing a win-loss ledger sitting at 5-6 isn’t enough to make the Six Nations tremble, certainly not an England side on a seven-Test streak. But the nature of that Twickenham win and the same never-say-die spirit that sank the Lions and Springboks sounds a warning. England coach Steve Borthwick knows it, killing complacency by reminding his side that Schmidt’s men “are one of the form teams in the world” and “have had four months together… we’ve got four sessions.”
But if Kiwi-born Schmidt has learned anything of Anglo-Australian relations it’s to be wary of a rival coach pissing in his pocket and telling him it’s raining. The Wallabies are indeed battle-fit after the Lions series and an encouraging Rugby Championship. But after leading for three quarters of that tournament, they lost three straight Tests. Schmidt played a Walla-B-side in the Brave Blossoms win last week to save 13 stars for the England Test, but fatigue and a torrid toll of injuries has him short of weaponry.
Australian rugby rolled out its biggest gun for that showdown last November when centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii staged a player-of-the-match performance on debut. Despite willing performances in 13 Tests since, the 21-year-old hasn’t been able to match the aerial mastery and magic offloads he unveiled that day. The issue is that Schmidt hasn’t yet found a flyhalf to give Suaalii the time and space he needs to fly, despite Lolesio, Tom Lynagh, Tane Edmed and James O’Connor all being trialled.
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Rugby Australia shelled out $5m to steal the boy wonder back from rugby league and lead the code’s “golden era” in time for the home World Cup in 2027. But their Ferrari is too often parked out wide with no ball and nothing to do but tackle. Neither of the 10s who played at Twickenham last year will feature on Sunday, with Lolesio suffering a neck injury before the Lions series and Ben Donaldson out of favour. Instead, it’ll be five-Test rookie Edmed up against England’s 102-cap George Ford.
The sparkplug playmaker Suaalii and Australia sorely need may come off the bench. Carter Gordon, 24, looks like making his return to gold after a brief stint in the NRL. Gordon burst onto the scene in 2023 with fast hands, a deft grubber and fierce tackle. At 189cm he is rangy, built like an NFL quarterback, with slingshot acceleration and electric counter-attack. Eddie Jones threw him into the furnace at the 2023 World Cup but Gordon flamed out. Is “Flash” the saviour of Schmidt’s universe?
Australia haven’t conjured back-to-back Twickenham boilovers since 2007-08 and World Rugby hasn’t helped, staging this Test outside the “international window” that opens next week. It means UK and European clubs aren’t obliged to release four of Australia’s best (despite the Premiership being on pause for a month). So Ikitau, Tom Hooper and Will Skelton will cool their heels while England pick a full-strength squad under a “professional game agreement” between the RFU and clubs.
It’s that smell again. The rank tang of gamesmanship between these two old foes. No matter. Whenever Australia take on England even the air is fiercely contested.
