Captain Harry Wilson has rejected claims the Wallabies use illegal and dangerous breakdown tactics as they prepare to face England on Saturday.
A report in Britain’s Daily Telegraph said England coach Steve Borthwick highlighted Australia’s alleged ploy of deliberately entering rucks from the side during the customary pre-match meeting with referee Nika Amashukeli.
Player welfare concerns were also raised over Australia’s approach to clear-outs.
“Firstly, I’d like to question how many are illegal,” loose forward Wilson told reporters on Friday. “And to say that they are dangerous – they are definitely not.
“There’s no way [Wallabies coach] Joe Schmidt would coach a team to be illegal at the breakdown.
“I think we’ve had over 2,000 rucks this year and for them [England] to cherry-pick a couple is quite amusing.
“When a team is playing 10 or 11 Tests, any team would have some from the side. We think we are quite good at our attacking breakdown. We are pretty excited for the opportunity to go out there and have a fair game.”
Australia will be missing James O’Connor, Len Ikitau and Tom Hooper at Twickenham as their English clubs will not release them for a match that falls outside World Rugby’s designated international window.
A separate agreement with the RFU means the country’s elite clubs have to release England players.
Is it fair that English players are free for international duty but other nations are not allowed to select players currently in PREM Rugby? 🫣
↳ Quilter Nations Series. Starts Sunday. Every Match. Live & Exclusive.#StanSportAU #Wallabies #QuilterNationsSeries #InsideLine pic.twitter.com/VqLfRTdRkQ
— Stan Sport Rugby (@StanSportRugby) October 29, 2025
Australia upset the odds to beat England 42-37 at Twickenham last year, thanks to Max Jorgensen’s last-gasp try and pushed the British & Irish Lions close in a 2-1 series loss.
The Wallabies also won at the Springboks’ Ellis Park fortress in Johannesburg for the first time in 62 years during the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
“There haven’t been many games since I’ve been captain where we have been the favourites,” said Wilson. “We are always the outsiders and not many people back us. As a group, we enjoy that.”
ITOJE: There’s not a team we can’t beat
Wilson, who will lead a much-changed team following last week’s narrow win over Japan in Tokyo, added: “We’re so internally focused on improving and making sure preparation is right so that we believe in ourselves and believe in each other to do the job.
“Last year this game was a big turning point for us as a group, which really made us believe that on our day we can beat anybody in the world.”
PREVIEW: Schmidt pleads for Edmed patience
– AFP
The post Wallabies deny using ‘dangerous’ breakdown tactics appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Captain Harry Wilson has rejected claims the Wallabies use illegal and dangerous breakdown tactics as they prepare to face England on Saturday.
The post Wallabies deny using ‘dangerous’ breakdown tactics appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
