Australia captain Harry Wilson has denied claims that the Wallabies are using illegal breakdown tactics on the eve of their game against England.
The Telegraph reports that during a meeting with referee Nika Amashkeli ahead of Saturday’s game against Twickenham, England head coach Steve Borthwick highlighted Australia’s strategy of deliberately driving into the ruck from the flanks.
Concerns about the welfare of play were also raised over the approach to tourist evictions.
“First of all, you wonder how many of them are illegal, and how dangerous they are, by no means,” Wilson said.
“There’s no way (Australia head coach) Joe Schmidt is going to coach a team that fouls at the breakdown. I think they’ve had over 2,000 rucks this year, but it’s very interesting that they cherry-pick some of the rucks.”
“When a team is playing 10 or 11 Tests, every team is going to attack from the wings. I think we’re pretty good at the attacking breakdown. We’re pretty excited about the opportunity to go out there and play a fair game.”
England are likely favorites to get off to a winning start in the Autumn Nations Series, but Wilson insists Australia are used to being cut short.
The Wallabies will be without James O’Connor, Len Ikitau, Tom Hooper and Will Skelton for the non-international fixture, but they have a recent history of coming from behind to win against the odds, including against Twickenham 12 months ago.
Last November, Max Jorgensen scored after the siren to beat England and the Wallabies came from behind to win.
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“Since I’ve been captain, there haven’t been many games where we’ve been favorites to win,” Wilson said. We will always be outsiders and there won’t be many people to support us. As a group, we enjoy it.
“We are very focused on improving internally and making sure we are well prepared, so we believe in ourselves and we believe in each other to get the job done.
“This game last year was a big turning point for us as a group. That day really made us believe we could beat anyone in the world.”