England vs. Australia: Preview, Live Stream, TV Info for Rugby World Cup 2015
Crunch time for England arrives on Saturday night with a win-or-bust encounter against Australia in the Rugby World Cup 2015.
Defeat will see Stuart Lancaster’s men exit their own tournament at the pool stage, while a win still makes it possible to finish first in the section.
Australia’s progress has been serene thus far compared to the host nation, but this is their first true test against one of the pre-tournament favourites.
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The World Cup’s history is punctuated regularly with dramatic encounters between these two. This will be their sixth meeting in World Cup play and their first in the pool stages since a 19-6 win for the Wallabies in 1987 at Sydney’s Concord Oval.
The score is currently 3-2 to England, their most recent success that abrasive quarter-final triumph in the Marseille sunshine in 2007.
For the Red Rose Brigade, they are not yet down and out of Pool A, but this is already knockout rugby.
There are areas all over the field in which this fame can be won and lost, but the key, as with last weekend at Twickenham, London, will be discipline.
Australia have been no strangers to the referee’s whistle so far in this tournament, conceding 23 penalties in their two games so far.
England’s misdemeanours at the breakdown last week need no further discussion, except to say they have been alerted about three awards to Wales that the referee should not have made, per the Mirror.
The match official will doubtless be aware of the extra pressure to get decisions right in this contentious area.
Match details
Date: Saturday, October 3
Time: 8 p.m. BST/3 p.m. EST
Venue: Twickenham, London
TV Info: UK, ITV1; Australia, Fox SPORTS; NZ, SkySports; South Africa, SuperSports
Live Stream: ITV Player (UK only), Universal Sports (US only)
Last 5 games
England’s defeat to Wales was the first they have lost to Warren Gatland’s men since their drubbing in Cardiff in 2013.
Before that, they overcame Fiji on opening night, having won one and lost one to France during the summer and beaten Ireland impressively at Twickenham.
That last pre-tournament game was the most cohesive they had looked since the Six Nations, with wide players Jonny May and Anthony Watson both looking dangerous.
Australia arrived at the World Cup as improbable Rugby Championship winners. They beat South Africa, the All Blacks and Argentina to imbue a self-belief that things are coming together for Michael Cheika’s men.
A cake walk for their second string against the USA en route to the UK was squeezed in before seeing off Fiji and Uruguay since arriving in England.
| September 26 | England 25-28 Wales |
| September 18 | England 38-14 Fiji |
| September 5 | England 21-13 Ireland |
| August 22 | France 25-20 England |
| August 15 | England 19-14 France |
| September 27 | Australia 65-3 Uruguay |
| September 23 | Australia 28-13 Fiji |
| September 5 | USA 10-47 Australia |
| August 15 | New Zealand 41-13 Australia |
| August 8 | Australia 27-19 New Zealand |
Team lineups
England welcome back the additional spark of Jonathan Joseph to their back line. Brad Barritt returns to the more familiar No. 12 jersey and Sam Burgess to his role as impact sub.
Ben Morgan is fit to resume the No. 8 jersey with Billy Vunipola out of the competition and Nick Easter backing Morgan up from the bench. Ben Youngs has been passed fit and will again partner Owen Farrell at half-back.
Australia had the luxury of changing almost an entire team for their clash with Uruguay and so welcome back their rested first-stringers for the Twickenham showdown.
Their No. 7/No. 8 combo of Michael Hooper and David Pocock, dubbed "Pooper"—which was somewhat stumbled upon in their Rugby Championship clash with South Africa—was so successful that they have become the talk of the town.
Both are natural turnover-merchants at the breakdown and wonderful support players to their fleet-footed backs.
There is less bulk on the Wallabies bench than Michael Cheika would have wanted, having lost the 22-stone lock Will Skelton and veteran No. 8 Wycliff Palu to injuries that have ended their World Cups.
England: Mike Brown; Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Brad Barritt, Jonny May; Owen Farrell, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury, Geoff Parling, Tom Wood, Chris Robshaw, Ben Morgan.
Australia: Israel Folau; Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Matt Giteau, Rob Horne; Bernard Foley, Will Genia; Scott Sio, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu; Kane Douglas, Rob Simmons; Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, David Pocock.
Players to Watch
Chris Robshaw
No England rugby captain has come under this much pressure since Will Carling and “old-fart gate.”
Chris Robshaw’s call to kick for touch rather than take the shot at goal that could have squared the match against Wales has been raked over all week in the rugby press.
And his qualities as a captain have come under fire as a result, but it hasn’t ended there.
His ability as a No. 7 of world class has also been questioned, per Japan coach Eddie Jones in the Daily Mail: "To me, Robshaw is an outstanding club player, but at international level, he doesn’t have that point of difference. He carries OK, he tackles OK, but he’s not outstandingly good in any area."
All of that not withstanding, Robshaw had a better game than Sam Warburton last weekend. His decision in the 78th minute has overshadowed the fact that he was more effective than the incumbent Lions captain.
Had Robshaw gone for goal and England had squared the match, would Warburton have come under all this flak instead, for it was he who gave that penalty away?
It has become pantomime fare to poke fun at the English skipper this week. Ian Herbert of the Independent has taken aim at his dog, his oratory, his ability as a player and his captaincy.
It’s hard to remember anyone heralding Martin Johnson for his Churchillian team talks. The 2003 World Cup winner was a man for deeds, not words.
Robshaw needs to follow that template on Saturday and give as good as he gets from the twin threat of Australia’s back-row scavengers.
And if his team is behind by a score, at least he has no option when it comes to deciding the best result to go for.
David Pocock
It has almost become de riguer to amalgamate David Pocock and Michael Hooper into one person. The pair’s partnership as breakdown mongrels has been the transformative factor for this Wallabies team.
Pocock was the No. 1 in the No. 7 spot for Australia until injury intervened. He was sidelined by two serious knee injuries that kept him out for more than two-and-a-half years.
During that time, Michael Hooper made such a good job of the role he ended up as interim captain of his country while hooker Stephen Moore recovered from his own injury.
Pocock came back this year to great effect for the Brumbies in the Super XV, and when he was ready to be picked for Australia again, Hooper’s form gave Michael Cheika a conundrum he decided to solve in an unorthodox way: Pick them both.
If English rugby saw the thought of Steffon Armitage playing at No. 8 as a quirky experiment best left to his club coach (were he eligible to play for his country, that is), the folly of such straight-line thinking has been exposed by Cheika’s choice to play Pocock there and retain Hooper at openside with such success.
BBC’s Tom Fordyce wrote:
"It shouldn't work. In footballing terms it is playing Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard together in central midfield. Both men play the same type of game: muscular pickpockets at the breakdown, wrecking-balls aimed at the opposing foundations. Both want to be in the same place at the same time.
But work it has. The combination outplayed their vaunted All Blacks counterparts to win the Rugby Championship in Sydney a few months ago. Against Fiji last week, the pair made 41 tackles. Pocock made five turnovers alone.
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England supporters and the English media are fixated with how their bigger back row, with no such player in its makeup, will cope with the dynamism of these two short, fast, agile men, but it will not just be down to the players with six, seven and eight on their backs to stop the threat of Pocock and Hooper.
It was notable against Wales how, on several occasions, the first English players to the breakdown were not blowing their opposites away in the same way we see South Africans and New Zealanders attack the rucks.
This is where Pocock and his mate will profit if England are not clinical with their cleaning out. Joe Launchbury and Dan Cole have the responsibility to make this aspect of England’s game better just as much as their back-row colleagues.
Do it not and David Pocock will rack up some impressive stats.
Prediction: England 15-13 Australia
Odds
England 9/10
Australia 5/4
Draw 22/1
Via Oddschecker.com
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