England host Australia at Twickenham on Saturday, these teams haven't met for some time and the home side start as firm favourites with the bookmakers.
England v Australia, Saturday 9th November, Twickenham, KO 17:10 (South African time)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Weather Forecast: Twickenham
England:
England took on the All Blacks at Twickenham last week, they were given around 3.5 points start on the bookmakers main handicap line and in a dramatic finish they missed an opportunities to win the game, eventually going down 24-22.
Marcus Smith landed 5 penalties and also converted England's only try through Feyi-Waboso and England led 22-14 heading into the final quarter. The All Blacks fought back and a 76th minute try put them in front but Ford hit the post with a penalty and missed a drop goal attempt at the death.
England also took on the All Blacks in a 2 match series in New Zealand in the middle of the year. They put in 2 big performances, edged out in the first test 16-15 and they went down in the second test 24-17. England had tuned up for that tour with a 52-17 victory over Japan in Tokyo.
In the Six Nations earlier this year England finished third with their stand out result being a 23-22 victory over Ireland at Twickenham in Round 4 which ultimately denied Ireland another Grand Slam. They started that tournament with a 27-24 win in Italy and then beat Wales 16-14 at Twickenham. Next up they went down 30-21 in Scotland and after turning the Irish over England finished up by going down 33-31 in France.
Australia:
The Wallabies are looking for an end of year boost after their Rugby Championship campaign delivered just the 1 win and 5 defeats and they finished with the wooden spoon.
They started that tournament with back to back losses away to the Springboks (33-7 and 30-12) before heading to Argentina where they won (20-19) in Round 3 before suffering a 67-27 hiding a week later. Their final 2 matches saw them edged out 31-28 at home to the All Blacks and they lost the return in New Zealand 33-13.
In July this year the Wallabies won both tests at home to Wales (25-16 and 36-28) and they also won at home to Georgia (40-29).
Team News
England: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (captain),1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt; 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Sleightholme
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen
Recent Head to Head
July 2022 INT Sydney Australia 17-21 England
July 2022 INT Brisbane Australia 17-25 England
July 2022 INT Perth Australia 30-28 England
Nov 2021 INT Twickenham England 32-15 Australia
The Betting
Posted 08 Nov 09h24
England -12.5 points at 9/10
Australia +13.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 08 Nov 09h24
This handicap has been fairly stable all week at around -12.5 England.
I am fascinated by the fact that Australia have named a league convert who has yet to play a professional match at 13 but by all accounts Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is a potential superstar.
England may well be carrying some mental baggage after failing to close out an 8 point lead against New Zealand last week (and costing me a 19/2 HT/FT double) and I think Australia are runners here.
They are a bit inconsistent though so I am reluctant to pile into the handicap at this point and will settle on a straight win bet.
The points line is 50.5 and most punters on last nights THE HANDICAP and in the Forum are predicting an open and high scoring game.
I am going to hold fire for now but will post my main bet on this game in this preview closer to kick off.
BET: 1 unit Australia win at 5/1 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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