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Harry Wilson has batted away suggestions that the Wallabies are purposely engaging in “illegal and dangerous” breakdown tactics, saying he found England’s tactics “quite amusing” on the eve of their rematch at Twickenham.
As the Wallabies captain caught up on some sleep on Thursday night, the UK Telegraph dropped a bomb on the Australian side by reporting that England coach Steve Borthwick had tried to influence referee Nika Amashukeli ahead of their blockbuster Test.
It’s alleged that Borthwick presented clips highlighting around 40 examples gleaned from this year’s The Rugby Championship of their opponents allegedly entering rucks from the side.
Wilson, in particular, was highlighted as a significant culprit with a series of clips exposing his work at the ruck.
On Friday, Wilson, who has never shied away from getting on the front foot and once belted a 35-ball century in school cricket, hit back and called it nothing but cherry-picking.
“Yeah, I saw that this morning,” Wilson said coolly.
“Firstly, I’d like to question how many of them are illegal. To say they’re dangerous, I know they’re definitely not dangerous.
“To think that we’re getting coached that way, there’s no way Joe Schmidt would coach a team to be illegal at the breakdown.
“I think we’ve had over 2,000 rucks this year and for them to cherry-pick a couple of rucks out of it, it’s quite amusing.
“We’re pretty excited for the opportunity to go there and have a really good fair game and go there and perform.”
Harry Wilson has brushed away suggestions the Wallabies are engaging in illegal practises. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)
While accepting that no team was squeaky clean, Wilson agreed that there was a strong hint of mind games in the timing of the story.
But the rising Wallabies captain astutely steered clear of questioning whether international referees needed to “sharpen up” around the breakdown.
“When a team’s playing 10-11 Test matches, any team in the world would have some from the side,” Wilson said.
“For us, we think we’re quite good at our attacking breakdown. We try and get in there square early, beat the threat and try and make sure we’ve got quick ball.
“For us, the refs have a lot on their mind. They’re under the pump. We just want to try and make it as easy as we can for them by trying to be as square as possible, so there’s not too much whinging about it.”
The talking point was just the latest in a high-octane week, with the Wallabies denied access to three English-based players because the local Premiership competition doesn’t permit foreigners to play Test matches outside the international window despite Borthwick’s side being at full strength.
But Wilson brushed away the talking point, saying “there’s no point having excuses”.
It wasn’t the first time he turned the screws on England either, with Borthwick saying earlier in the week that his side were as a disadvantage because they’d been together for four training sessions compared to the Wallabies, who have played 11 Tests since the start of July.
“If they want to put that out there as an excuse for them,” Wilson said.
“We’ve been playing together all year. We’ve had a lot of footy in a row. It’s been an awesome year, which we’ve loved. Obviously, the continuity is there because we’ve been playing a lot. If we can use that as an advantage for us, that’d be nice.”
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii helped sink England at Twickenham on November 9, 2024. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
While the Wallabies haven’t played England since their spectacular win at Twickenham 12 months ago, there’s no shortage of rivalries after the British and Irish Lions toured down under and won on Australian shores.
Borthwick has named 12 players in his English side from the Lions squad that beat the Wallabies earlier this year and Wilson said his side had some unfinished business.
“After a disappointing result in that series, you always look forward to, I guess, trying to right some wrongs from that series,” he said.
“But in saying that, we’ve played a lot of rugby since and the Lions series for us feels like forever ago after the full-on rugby championship we had. But there’s a few battles there I know the boys are excited for.”
Despite beating England last year, the Wallabies are $3.80 outsiders.
But if you think Wilson cares, think again.
“I don’t think there’s been many games since I’ve been as captain where we have been the favourites,” Wilson said.
“We’re always the outsiders and not many people back us. As a group, we enjoy that.
“For us, we’re so internally focused on just improving, making sure our preparation is right.
“We believe in ourselves, believe in each other to go out there and do the job.
“I think last year this game was a big turning point for us as a group, which really made us believe that on our day we can beat anybody in the world. We’ve been really trying to build on that and keep improving as a squad.”