Kickoff: 3:10pm Saturday on TNT Sports
Line-ups
England:
1.Genge 2George(C) 3.Stuart 4. Itoje 5.Martin 6.Cunninghham-South 7.T.Curry 8.Earl
9.Spencer 10.M.Smith 11.Freeman 12.Slade 13.Lawrence 14.Feyi-Waboso 15.Furbank
16.Cowan-Dickie 17.Baxter 18.Cole 19.Isiekwe 20.Dombrandt 21.Randall 22.Ford 23.Sleightholme
England make no changes to the starting line-up but make one change on the bench as they revert to a 5-3 split rather than 6-2 as Sleightolme replaces Ben Curry. It is good to see the consistency in selection under Borthwick, it can only be beneficial for the likes of Ben Spencer to finally get a chance to establish himself. Whilst the starting XV is unchanged in terms of personnel, there is one thing of note; Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade seem to have swapped shirts. I wonder if that means Ollie Lawrence will be unleashed in the same way for England as he is for Bath and what will a match-up against rugby league convert Suaalii look like?This really has to be a win for England so the pressure is on but what has Joe Schmidt prepared to surprise the home side?
Australia:
1.Bell 2.Faessler 3.Tupou 4.Frost 5.Williams 6.Valetini 7.Mcreight 8.Wilson(C)
9.Gordon 10.Lolesio 12.Pietsch 12.Ikitau 13.Suaalii 14.Kellaway 15.Wright
16.Paenga-Amosa 17.Slipper 18.Alaalatoa 19.Salakaia-Loto 20.Gleeson
21.Mcdermott 12.Donaldson 15.Jorgensen
This team is still finding itself ad has experienced many bumps already so they would love nothing more than to stun their rivals in their own house. Noah Lolesio has had a mixed set of performances in a gold jersey so how will he react to the pressure, He did spend some time in France so northern hemisphere rugby will not be alien to him. One player who will have to find his feet quickly is Suaalii who was an NRL star who is now a Wallaby. He will face a big challenge on a big stage but he is a supreme athlete who grew up playing a lot of union so he is by no means a novice. If he can live up to his potential, the Wallabies might just have a global superstar on their hands.
My Prediction:
England 35 VS 20 Australia
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