Sports

Wilson urges Wallabies to play to their strengths against England

By AFP

Australia captain Harry Wilson has told the Wallabies to "play our own game" as they prepare to face England in the opening match of the 2026 Nations Championship at Twickenham on Sunday. The Wallabies achieved a standout performance in September, beating South Africa 42‑38 in Perth with five tries and then holding on to win despite being reduced to 11 men. They arrive in Europe after two heavy defeats by New Zealand, in which they conceded 93 points in total. England will try to force a forward battle to blunt the Wallabies’ attacking threat, but Wilson urged his team to stick to their strengths. "We definitely want to be us. We want to play our own game. We've seen this year when we do play our style of footy how much we can hurt teams," Wilson said on Saturday. "In the South Africa game when we really backed our skills and kept attacking, we really played some really good footy, and we learned some valuable lessons in those New Zealand games. And we really need to take them forward." Coach Les Kiss noted that England’s back‑line must also be respected, saying their back three can cause damage if given space. "That back three of theirs can do damage. If you give them space, they can hurt you. So I wouldn't expect this to be just a forward battle, that's for sure," Kiss said. England have lost five of their last seven Tests, and coach Steve Borthwick denied reports of dressing‑room unrest. "It could go one or two ways for them (England) and I guess it's on us to put them under pressure to see how close they are as a team," Wilson added. Kiss said a match at Twickenham is always a challenge, recalling his experience playing there with Ireland and South Africa. He added that England’s anthem “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” can make the day tough, but the team must do the job. The Wallabies finished the European tour last year winless under former coach Joe Schmidt, but Wilson’s career highlight was the 42‑37 win over England at Twickenham in 2024, when Max Jorgensen scored a match‑clinching try in the 83rd minute. "That win two years ago was probably my first time as captain where we had that really special win," Wilson recalled. "That win here definitely spring‑boarded the group. At that point we were probably struggling a bit, and that really gave the group a lot of confidence. And since then we've done some special things, but probably lacked a bit of consistency over the last few years."