England Spying Accusations Rubbished Ahead of Australia Rugby World Cup Match

Accusations that England sent a spy to the camp of upcoming Rugby World Cup opponents Australia have been denied.

According to Neil Syson in the Sun, a man with a camera was chased by security guards after being found spying on Australia's closed training session from nearby bushes.

Per Syson, Australia officials reported the incident to Rugby World Cup chiefs and England have been accused of tasking the man to gather tactical information for them ahead of their must-win clash against them on Saturday.

However, the Rugby Football Union and World Rugby have denied any such accusations, per Sky Sports News HQ: "No complaint has been made and no team is being investigated."

DAMIEN MEYER/Getty Images

England go up against the Wallabies in Pool A at Twickenham with the hosts needing a win to keep their 2015 Rugby World Cup hopes alive after a devastating defeat to Wales.

However, Stuart Lancaster's side will need to up their performance if they want to make sure of a place in the quarter-finals, per the Telegraph's Paul Hayward:

Victory over Australia—and in their final match against unfancied Uruguay—would likely see England through to the knockout stages.

However, defeat to the southern-hemisphere outfit would surely see England become the first Rugby World Cup hosts to be eliminated in the group stage.

According to Iain Payten in Australia's Daily Telegraph, if England did indeed send a spy to the training session in Bath, they will have garnered little information of note as "no secret tactics were being used."

The last time the two teams met was at Twickenham in November 2014, and England prevailed 26-17.

However, the Wallabies have looked much improved since then and triumphed in the recent Rugby Championship after defeating South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand.

England will need to respond to their defeat against Wales and up their performance to beat Australia or else they'll likely suffer the ignominy of an early exit from their own World Cup.