England v Australia, Autumn Internationals 2024: Date, start time, how to watch and prediction

Jamie George has laid down the gauntlet ahead of England’s Australia showdown with the captain challenging his side to go full throttle in a complete 80-minute performance.

George has watched his side throw away second-half leads in their past four Tests against so-called tier-one nations - including the first autumn international last weekend against New Zealand - and now the England captain has challenged his side to put in a complete, 80-minute performance against Joe Schmidt’s outsiders, Australia, at Twickenham.

“My messaging to the team, Steve’s messaging the team, we’re going to want to go out and play with courage and be brave and take teams on and never sit back,” George, 34, said. “The challenge is, can we continue to do that for 80 minutes?

“There’s a fine line between being relentless and almost reckless. We’re very clear about how we want to go about things. I think the more time that we spend together, the better we’re going to get. And, yeah, whoever we’re playing, we want to take them on.

“We lost a tight game and we want to make sure we start winning those games. I actually thought our intent to play and to continue to attack was there. There was a different mind-set [than in the summer]. What we did was we lacked discipline. We gave away too many penalties and we allowed a team as good as the All Blacks into our 22 very easily and when you do that, with the special players on their team, you are always going to be struggling.

“There are key things we know we need to get right. The scrum gave away too many penalties in the last 20 minutes of the game. We are aware of that. Up until then we had been so disciplined; I think we had given away two penalties in 60 minutes of rugby, which is unheard of really. It is something we have put a huge emphasis on, so we just have to keep it going for 80 minutes.”

When is the match?

England play Australia on Saturday, November 9 at Twickenham (Allianz Stadium).

What time does it start?

The match kicks off at 3.10pm GMT. Or 1.10am on Sunday morning (Canberra time) if you are in Australia.

What TV channel is it on?

In the UK and Ireland, every game of the Autumn Internationals is being shown live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

What is the latest team news?

England
England will aim to ignite their autumn with the same team that was edged by New Zealand after Steve Borthwick opted against making any personnel changes for Saturday’s visit of Australia.

A 24-22 defeat by the All Blacks opened the Autumn Nations Series but the same XV have been retained for the second of four Tests at Allianz Stadium this month.

Borthwick has made a positional switch in midfield where Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence have swapped between inside and outside centre.

The only adjustments in personnel are made to the bench where Luke Cowan-Dickie replaces Theo Dan at hooker and Ben Curry makes way to accommodate a return to a five-three split between forwards and backs.

Cowan-Dickie’s last England appearance came two years ago in Eddie Jones’ final match in charge against the Wallabies, meaning he poised to make his first outing under Borthwick.

The 31-year-old’s international career has been hampered by neck surgery that caused nerve damage when it went wrong and atrial fibrillation, a heart condition.

Northampton wing Ollie Sleightholme is drafted on to the bench to complete the compliment of replacement backs.

England are looking to bounce back from a third successive narrow loss to the All Blacks after George Ford missed with late penalty and drop-goal attempts that would have snatched victory.

Australia are not the force of old having dropped to ninth in the world rankings in the wake of a Rugby Championship in which they managed only one win in their six matches.

Eddie Jones, who was sacked by England after the final game of the 2022 autumn series against South Africa, took them to last autumn’s World Cup only to preside over a disastrous group exit, resulting in his departure.

Former Ireland boss Joe Schmidt now coaches the Wallabies.

England XV: G Furbank (Northampton); I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter), O Lawrence (Bath), H Slade (Exeter), T Freeman (Northampton); M Smith (Harlequins), B Spencer (Bath); E Genge (Bristol), J George (Saracens, capt), W Stuart (Bath), M Itoje (Saracens), G Martin (Leicester), C Cunningham-South (Harlequins), T Curry (Sale) B Earl (Saracens).

Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Sale), F Baxter (Harlequins), D Cole (Leicester), N Isiekwe (Saracens), A Dombrandt (Harlequins), H Randall (Bristol), G Ford (Sale), O Sleightholme (Northampton).

Australia
Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has thrown caution to the wind by giving league convert Joseph Sua’ali’i his debut at outside centre against England on Saturday despite never having played a senior game of rugby union.

Sua’ali’i replaces Hunter Paisami in the centres as the only change from the Australia side that lost 33-13 to New Zealand in the final round of the Rugby Championship in September.

Giant lock Will Skelton is not included in the matchday 23 having featured for La Rochelle in the Top 14 on Sunday. His absence will rob the Wallabies scrum of significant heft with the English front row suffering in the second half of their 24-22 defeat to New Zealand last Saturday at the Allianz Stadium.

All eyes at Twickenham will be on Sua’ali’i, the golden kid of Australian rugby, who last played a game of rugby union more than five years ago for the Australian schoolboys. Many thought that Schmidt would introduce the 21-year-old from the bench or even the wing, Instead he will start at outside centre, widely seen as one of the most difficult positions to defend, for his international bow.

England have dominated the fixture in recent years, winning 10 of their past 11 matches against the Wallabies with Australia’s last victory at Twickenham coming in the 2015 World Cup. Under Schmidt, they will pose multiple threats. Starting props Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou are strong scrummagers while England head coach Steve Borthwick highlighted the combative qualities of their back row which is made up of Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight and Harry Wilson.

Jake Gordon and Noah Lolesio retain their places at scrum-half and fly-half and have been Schmidt’s regular half-back pairing this year.

Australia XV: T Wright; A Kellaway, J Sua’ali’i, Len Ikitau, D Pietsch; N Loleiso, J Gordon; A Bell, M Faessler, T Tupou, N Forst, J Williams R Valentini, F McReight, H Wilson

Replacements: B Paenga-Amosa, J Slipper, A Alaaloatoa, L Salakaia-Loto, L Gleeson, T McDermott, B Donaldson, M Jorgensen

What are the latest odds?

• England to win 2/9

• Australia to win 5/1

• Draw 33/1

What happened the last time these teams played?

England last played Australia back in the summer of 2022 in a three-Test series Down Under, the tourists, then coached by Eddie Jones, winning 2-1. The first Test in Perth was won 30-28 by the Wallabies, before England turned things around 25-17 in Brisbane and 21-17 in Sydney. It was only England’s second series win in Australia, following 2016’s whitewash.

What is our prediction?

The Wallabies are now a team in transition under new coach Joe Schmidt and have suffered some eyebrow-raising defeats, most notably a 67-27 thrashing by Argentina. But they are showing signs of improvement and gave the All Blacks are real scare in the Rugby Championship.
Predicted score: England 34 Australia 14