The fuse has been lit for Saturday’s first autumn Test against England after reports emerged over in the UK that the Wallabies have been accused of “illegal” breakdown tactics.

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The report from The Telegraph surfaced hours after Joe Schmidt fronted the media to name his team for this weekend’s Autumn Nations series international, with the Wallabies coach making eight changes to the side that beat Japan 19-15 in Tokyo last weekend.

Backs Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Max Jorgensen are among those recalled to the starting 15.

While Schmidt’s full focus is on Saturday’s game and shutting down a “triple threat” in England fly-half George Ford at Twickenham, The Telegraph reported that rival head coach Steve Borthwick met with this weekend’s match referee, Nika Amashukeli, to bring to his attention “dozens” of examples of “persistent side-entries” by Wallabies players in this summer’s Rugby Championship.

The vast majority of them reportedly went unpenalised, and The Telegraph reported that England’s main concern surrounds player safety with Australia’s approach at the clean-out as well as the fact that entering rucks at the side is illegal.

There is no issue with Borthwick meeting with Amashukeli as both he and Schmidt are allowed to meet with the lead official separately before every Test.

The Telegraph’s Charles Richardson, who wrote the report, shared a montage of moments from Rugby Championship games against Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand to support the claims reportedly made against the Wallabies.

Richardson also spoke to a senior coach in the English game who, when showed the above clip, said “that will be coached by Joe Schmidt” and that “it is dangerous and illegal”.

Both Rugby Australia and the Rugby Football Union declined to comment when contacted by Telegraph Sport as part of the report.

The accusations against the Wallabies will only add to the tension ahead of Saturday’s clash, with Borthwick starting the mind games earlier in the week when he pointed out that England have only had four training sessions to prepare while Australia have been together since the Lions series started in July.

In essence, he is putting pressure on the Wallabies to perform with the expectation that they will be the more cohesive unit of the two, but Schmidt wasn’t buying it.

Eddie Jones heaps praise on Wallabies | 00:36

“We’ve had two sessions actually (since Japan) so at least he’s had four,” said Schmidt. “We’ve just come from Japan, we’ve made 13 changes I think cohesion-wise and I think also in terms of probably fatigue, we’ve done a lot of travel.

“I think we have 15 Test matches across 20 weeks in eight countries in 10 different time zones so you know I’d be happy to swap that for four trainings to be honest.”

TEAMS

Wallabies (1-15): Angus Bell, Billy Pollard, Taniela Tupou, Nick Frost, Jeremy Williams, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson; Jake Gordon, Tane Edmed, Harry Potter, Hunter Paisami, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Max Jorgensen, Andrew Kellaway.

Replacements: Josh Nasser, Tom Robertson, Allan Alaalatoa, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Ryan Lonergan, Hamish Stewart, Filipo Daugunu.

England (1-15): Fin Baxter, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje (c), Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, George Ford, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck, Freddie Steward

Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Alex Coles, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Ben Spencer, Fin Smith