{"id":950969,"date":"2026-11-03T10:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T10:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/950969\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T10:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T10:42:18","slug":"two-years-ago-the-wallabies-rolled-england-at-twickenham-can-history-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/950969\/","title":{"rendered":"Two years ago, the Wallabies rolled England at Twickenham. Can history repeat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Iain<\/p>\n

November 3, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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What is a pass mark for the tour, and who will the Wallabies play in the Nations Championships finals?<\/p>\n

The Wallabies will play four Tests in this November tour but, unusually, we only know their opponents in three of them: England, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n

This is the first year the Rugby Championships is being run, and the last weekend features a three-day, finals format at Twickenham.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies sit third on the Southern Hemisphere table after the first three rounds in July. They banked eight points via a win over Italy<\/a> and four bonus points accrued in losses to Ireland, France and the Azzuri.<\/p>\n

The finals will see the same ranked sides from the north and south pools face off over three days: so 1 v 1, 2 v 2, and so on, down to 6 v 6. A Ryder Cup-style hemisphere winner<\/a> will be crowned.<\/p>\n

The pass mark for the Wallabies on the tour should be two wins, at least. They should be beating a struggling Wales, and if they\u2019re serious about making the last weekend of the World Cup next year, Les Kiss\u2019 side need to be taking down either England or Scotland as well.<\/p>\n

When firing, the Wallabies have the game to beat either, but have largely struggled against these two foes at Twickenham and Murrayfield. That corner must be turned, and these games treated as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup finals.<\/p>\n

Next year, the Wallabies will need to have unshakeable belief they can win high-stakes, high-pressure games. The 2015 Wallabies definitely had it.<\/p>\n

Best guesses will see the Wallabies play England in the World Cup quarters. If Scotland can roll Ireland in their pool of death to avoid France in the round of 16, they have every chance of getting into the semis, and that\u2019s also on Australia\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

So wins this month count double. Not so much for Nations Championship bragging rights, but for long-term belief and muscle memory.<\/p>\n

\"SioneSione Tuipulotu celebrates after scoring against the Wallabies in 2024.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Who will the Wallabies play in the finals? They\u2019re in third, a spot above Argentina, and will likely finish in that order. On the other side, Scotland, England and Ireland are jockeying for spots 2, 3 and 4, and there is a realistic path for them to finish in any order.<\/p>\n

The Irish should bank at least two wins, but England and Scotland could, too. Australia could prove a blowfly in the ointment. Or at least they hope to be.<\/p>\n

Who will wear the No.10 for the Wallabies?<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be a \u201cburning questions\u201d without this evergreen favourite.<\/p>\n

\"CarterCarter Gordon (R) broke his leg Test against the Pumas in Mendoza.Getty Images<\/p>\n

The likely scenario is that Declan Meredith will retain the starting role against England, with Carter Gordon returning from a broken leg and light on recent game and training time.<\/p>\n

He may be seen as the top pick, long-term, but Gordon is also injury-prone, so there\u2019s every chance he\u2019ll be eased back in training this week and return either on the bench, or in week two.<\/p>\n

Meredith did his stock price no harm in Sydney, according to Les Kiss. He overcame mistakes and showed spirit in taking the game on.<\/p>\n

How do the Wallabies repeat the heroics of 2024 at Twickenham?<\/p>\n

The form guide \u2013 no excuses when again running last behind New Zealand in a two-horse field \u2013 doesn\u2019t provide cause for optimism. But before arriving at Twickenham in 2024, the Wallabies were in a similar spot.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d also come off a 2-0 Bledisloe bruising in 2024, and been beaten by a record margin by Argentina<\/a> before that. Ben Youngs wasn\u2019t alone in being dismissive of the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

But then they pulled off an all-time win<\/a>. Understanding how is the key to making history repeat. In the last decade, England have won five of six games at home against Australia, and each time they\u2019ve snuffed out the Wallabies defensively. They held the Wallabies to an average of 13.5 points in each win, and didn\u2019t concede more than two tries. On two occasions, they didn\u2019t let Australia cross their line.<\/p>\n

In 2024, however, the Wallabies scored five tries in a 42-37 win. They turned the pressure back on England and scored tries wide, or struck on turnover ball. But they also found yardage in the middle, through the likes of Angus Bell and clever tip passes at the line. And they never gave up, from multiple positions where the game looked lost.<\/p>\n

What position will Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii play?<\/p>\n

The other big factor in Australia winning in 2024 was the aerial influence of Suaalii, on debut. Particularly on restarts.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph-AukusoJoseph-Aukuso Suaalii of the Wallabies takes a high ball.Getty ImagesRelated Article\"Kurtley<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year the Wallabies lost the aerial war, badly, and so it would seem very prudent to have the million-dollar man playing wing, catching bulk high balls. But with Hunter Paisami out of the tour, Kiss will likely keep Suaalii at No.13, and with Len Ikitau at No.12.<\/p>\n

Will old man Kurtley Beale get a run?<\/p>\n

Not early on, but Beale is only one midfield injury from winning cap No.96. Isaac Henry can cover both centres but after that, it\u2019s Beale. Kiss has copped criticism for drafting in the 37-year-old<\/a>, but anyone who has seen Beale play recently will know he still has the skills required.<\/p>\n

The legs may be a different question but, in truth, the Wallabies desperately need a second experienced ball-player \u2013 and if Ikitau is not there, they don\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Friday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Close\"IainIain Payten<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"November 3, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-950969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}