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Fly-half Zoe Harrison has warned Australia that England will show a ruthless edge when the pair collide in their final Women’s Rugby World Cup pool game in Brighton this weekend.
The Red Roses are already assured of their place in the quarter-finals after back-to-back big wins over the United States and Samoa, while Australia’s Wallaroos need only a bonus point or better to join England in the last eight.
Australia’s position would have been stronger had they managed to secure victory over the USA, but the game in York last weekend ended in a dramatic 31-all draw, which could mean that the second qualifier from Pool A is determined by points difference.
Jo Yapp’s side will be assured of progress if they score four tries, and though they insisted on Tuesday that their approach will not change in pursuit of that goal, the nature of England’s dominance means that victory may quickly be out of reach.
But with England on the cusp of matching their record winning run of 30 matches, Harrison is clear that they intend to send a message with another professional performance in the third round of pool fixtures.
“It doesn’t change our approach, not at all,” Harrison said of the pool permutations. “We’re there to win against Australia and play our best rugby, because ultimately that’s what we’re here to do. We want to be top of the table ourselves.
“It’s one game at a time and that’s what we’re going after. I think our biggest thing in this game will be our defence, to show, ‘we know what you have to do but we’re not going to allow you through to do that’. Then it puts a stamp on the games going further as well.”
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England have continued to show a ruthless edge at this World Cup (PA Wire)
England are expected to have a fully fit squad to choose from, with attack coach Lou Meadows confirming the group had come through a physical clash with Samoa with “flying colours”, and that Holly Aitchison could contend for her first appearance of the tournament after injury.
Australia were beaten 42-7 in their most recent meeting with England at WXV in New Zealand in October 2023, but are coached by the highly regarded Yapp, who won 70 caps at scrum-half for England and coached several of the Red Roses’ squad at Under-20s level.
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England last took on Australia at WXV in 2023 (Getty)
Co-captain Emily Chancellor insists that the Wallaroos are intent on victory.
“We’re going in with the mindset of winning to start with, and that will be our number one goal, to get the four tries and get our own bonus point win,” she explained. “Obviously, it gets a bit more technical and tactical as the game goes on if we get into that position, but we’re leaving that to the coaches to be doing the maths and we’re playing a game to win.
“Yes, we’ll focus on our attacking strengths, but we also want to respect England and know that they do attack really well and that when they do get a roll on, that’s when they score a lot of tries, so we have to nullify and that means that we have to be really clinical in defence. I think we’ve shown over the last two games that we have that defensive strength in our team.”
The game at Brighton’s Amex Stadium is expected to be a sell-out, with only a handful of tickets now available.