England head to Sydney Cricket Ground for a series playoff Australia today.
After two riveting Tests, England have a chance to repeat their run of victories Down Under six years ago after reacting to last weekend’s opening defeat in Brisbane.
Australia beat a thriller 30-28 in Perth but England swept their rivals out of the park, with the Wallabies’ defeat compounded by a lengthy injury list.
“It’s great for rugby that we have a decider,” said England head coach Eddie Jones. “We want to put on a show against Australia, play a really good, tough game of rugby on historic ground and brighten up rugby a bit. ”
Here’s everything you need to know.
When does Australia play England?
The match will be played at Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia on Saturday 16 July with kick-off scheduled for 10:55am BST.
Where can I watch it?
The match will take place on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action, with coverage starting at 10:15am BST.
Alongside England in Australia this summer, Sky Sports will have Ireland’s five-match tour of New Zealand, Wales’ three-Test tour of South Africa and Scotland’s three-Test tour of Argentina.
If you’re not a Sky customer, you can get one NOWTV Day Pass here watch without subscription, from £11.99. Choose between daily or monthly membership
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What’s new from the team?
England were forced to replace openside flankers Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje from the second row after suffering concussions in Brisbane and, as expected, Lewis Ludlum was moved to the back row while Ollie Chessum was at lock. Eddie Jones made just one tactical change to his starting XI, returning to the experienced Danny Care as starting scrumhalf, while Jack van Poortvliet assisted.
Wallabies Reece Hodge and Harry Wilson will make their first Tests this year and former rugby league standout Suliasi Vunivalu could make his Test debut in Saturday’s decider against England. Australia manager Dave Rennie made a number of changes on his 23rd matchday after last week’s 25-17 in Brisbane that ended the streak 1-1, most of them due to injury or suspension.
Australia: 15 Reece Hodge, 14 Tom Wright, 13 Hunter Paisami, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Nic White; 1st James Slipper 2nd Dave Porecki 3rd Taniela Tupou 4th Nick Frost 5th Matt Philip 6th Harry Wilson 7th Michael Hooper (Captain) 8th Rob Valetini
Substitute: 16 Sailing, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Allan Ala’alatoa, 19 Rob Leota, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Len Ikitau, 23 Suliasi Vunivalu
England: Freddie Steward 15, Jack Nowell 14, Guy Porter 13, Owen Farrell 12, Tommy Freeman 11, Marcus Smith 10, Danny Care 9; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Ollie Chessum, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Courtney Lawes (Captain), 7 Lewis Ludlam, 8 Billy Vunipola,
Substitute: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Jack Willis, 21 Jack van Poortvliet, 22 Will Joseph, 23 Henry Arundell
opportunities
Australia wins – 4/6
Tie – 20/1
England wins – 13/10
TV program for summer tours
Saturday 16 July
New Zealand vs Ireland – live on Sky sports action from 7:30 a.m. (kick-off at 8:05 a.m.)
Australia vs England – live on Sky sports action from 10:15 a.m. (kick-off at 10:55 a.m.)
South Africa vs Wales – live on Sky sports action from 3:30 p.m. (kick-off at 4:05 p.m.)
Argentina vs Scotland – live on Sky sports action from 7:30 p.m. (kick-off at 8:10 p.m.)
