England vs Australia

Kickoff: 3pm, Saturday 12th September

Venue: CorpAcq Stadium

Watch on: BBC iPlayer

Team news

England

Starting XV

1.Mackenzie Carson 2.May Campbell 3.Sarah Bern 4.Delaney Burns 5.Lilli Ives Campion

6.Abi Burton 7.Sadia Kabeya 8.Maddie Feaunati 9.Natasha Hunt 10.Holly Aitchison

11.Claudia Moloney-Macdonald 12.Tatyana Heard 13.Megan Jones(C) 14.Mia Venner 15.Ellie Kildunne

Bench

16.Bryony Field 17.Hannah Botterman 18.Maud Muir 19.Morwenna Talling

20.Marlie Packer 21.Lucy Packer 22.Zoe Harrison 23.Helena Rowland

Australia

Starting XV

1.Brianna Hoy 2.Brittany Merlo 3.Faliki Pohiva 4.Kaitlan Leaney 5.Michaela Leonard

6.Pia Tapsell 7.Lily Bone 8.Siokapesi Palu Sekona(C) 9.Samantha Wood 10.Waiaria Ellis

11.Desiree Miller 12.Faitala Moleka 13.Georgina Friedrichs 14.Amelia Whitaker 15.Caitlyn Halse

Bench

16.Tania Naden 17.Allana Sikimeti 18.Eva Karpani 19.Jemma Bemrose

20.Piper Duck 21.Emily Chancellor 22.Tia Hinds 23.Cecilia Smith

The 2026 edition of WXV1 will start in Salford where England host Australia on Saturday afternoon. The Red Roses clearly view this as their easiest fixture of this group of games with their other opponents being New Zealand and Canada. Having said that, this is still a very strong England team that should be beating Australia comfortably. This Australia team has only just (and rather controversially) brought in their new head coach who will begin in 2027. For now, they will continue to build as they were before. This fixture was one-sided when the teams met during the 2025 Rugby World Cup and I'm not sure things will be any different here.

Mitchell has opted for a physical line-up for this game, characterised by the selection of Abi Burton at blindside flanker and Tatyana Heard at inside centre. Helena Rowland had been operating as a second receiver during the Six Nations but has been relegated to the bench for this encounter. Having had to watch from the sidelines whilst injured for much of 2026, Heard will be wanting to reclaim her spot in England's starting XV. Her new teammate, Holly Aitchison, will line up alongside her at fly-half with Natasha Hunt at scrum-half. She, like Heard, is returning from a lengthy injury lay-off. Mia Venner also gets a start on the right wing.

In the pack, Mackenzie Carson and May Campbell join Sarah Bern in the front row. In the second row, john Mitchell will just be glad to have multiple locks available after what transpired during the Six Nations. Some of his stars are still on maternity leave but Ives Campion and Talling are both back to join Burns as the lock trio in the match-day squad. 

The bench packs a punch with Marlie Packer and Hannah Botterman both ready to be game-wreckers in the second half. Bryony Field will get a big opportunity at hooker with Cokayne out and Lark Atkin-Davies still not available. 

As for Australia, they'll be looking to cause England some problems with a dangerous back 3 which includes young Caitlyn Halse and the tri-scoring machine that is Desiree Miller. Piper Duck and Emily Chancellor give the Wallaroos some experience from the bench but they'll need to play their best rugby to have a chance in this one.

I expect England to win comfortably.