Rugby Union Betting Preview: England look capable of beating Australia by 8-14 points
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Australia face England at Twickenham in the last match of the Wallabies European tour on Saturday.
There is recent history between the two teams of course, with Australia having inflicted a damaging 33-13 defeat on England at Twickenham in a crucial pool match at Rugby World Cup 2015. However, England gained revenge by handing out a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series in Australia earlier this year – 39-28 (Brisbane), 23-7 (Melbourne) and 44-40 (Sydney).
Although Australia were impressive in attack either side of the interval in their 27-24 defeat to Ireland, the Wallabies conceded 13 penalties against Ireland and that lack of discipline could prove costly against an England team in which Owen Farrell can be a prolific scorer with the boot.
England saw off Argentina 27-14 at Twickenham last weekend, although they had to dig-in after having been reduced to 14-men when Elliot Daly saw red in the opening minutes of the game.
England coach Eddie Jones has already ensured that there will be an extra edge to the game by questioning Australia’s scrummaging technique, although given that Ireland dominated the scrum in Dublin, Jones might be best served worrying more about England’s own inconsistent scrum, which struggled against the Pumas in the first-half.
In terms of team news, Australia are likely to be without scrum-half Will Genia, who was recalled by his club side, Stade Francais, with the England match falling outside World Rugby’s international window. England will be missing their number eight, Billy Vunipola, who will miss at least three months after injuring his knee against Argentina.
This is a potentially historic game for England, with them just one win away from equalling the record of 14 straight victories set under Sir Clive Woodward in 2003.
It’s been a tough tour for the Wallabies, with their last three internationals all being decided by just fine margins – 23-22 and 25-23 victories over Scotland and France respectively, followed by the three-point loss to the Irish. Those games may well have taken something out of Australian bodies and they will have to dig deep to take anything from this game.
In reality, England should end the year by seeing off Australia by a couple of scores.
