By Charlie Elliott
Whenever England face Australia, be it in football, cricket, rugby or the never-ending debate between Marmite and Vegemite, an immense rivalry always underpins the occasion.
Saturday will be no different with two sides who are both looking to climb back to the top following disappointing recent campaigns, and both hoping a win will propel them back to where they want to be, as well as give them the bragging rights over the other.
Here are five of England’s best-ever games against the Wallabies:
2003 World Cup Final: Australia 17 – 20 England
The most obvious choice, as it is the greatest game in the history of English rugby.
Everyone could tell you exactly where they were when Jonny Wilkinson hit a 100th-minute drop goal between the posts to give England their first and currently only-ever Rugby World Cup in Sydney of all places.
It capped off the perfect year for Clive Woodward’s side, who also won the Six Nations earlier on, and cemented their place amongst the greatest in history.
Australia deserve immense credit for their role in such an amazing fixture, fighting to the very end in a true heavyweight clash.
Words cannot do this result, and its significance for English and Northern Hemisphere rugby, justice, with it being the only World Cup success for either.
2010: England 35 – 20 Australia
Two words… Chris. Ashton.
This game will forever be remembered with extreme fondness to any England fans lucky enough to have been able to say ‘I was there’ and even those who had the privilege of watching one of the greatest tries of all time being scored live.
Ashton ran 90 metres up the pitch to send the crowd into absolute raptures and helped his country win 35-18.
Everything about this game screamed nostalgia, from the grey kit to some of the legendary players on both sides, and this game was one in which future generations of English rugby fans will be told all about.
2016: 3 – 0 tour win in Sydney
Australia had not been whitewashed in a home series since 1971 against South Africa, and upstepped England.
Eddie Jones’ side won 3-0 courtesy of 28-39, 7-23 and 40-44 scorelines. This dominance pushed England up to second in the World Rankings and gave fans the hope that they had bounced back following an embarrassing knockout to the Wallabies in the 2015 World Cup.
No one argued about England’s success on the tour, and the deserved nature of their wins showed their superior quality over the series.
2019 World Cup Quarter-Final: England 40 – 16 Australia
A dominant second-half display from England led them to the Rugby World Cup semi-final and had fans dreaming of emulating the success of 2003.
Unfortunately, they would fall at the final hurdle, losing to South Africa, but the game against Australia signifies the glory days and days that England fans will hope to come up in the future.
The man of the match on the day was Tom Curry, who is likely to start on Saturday, and his experience in the fixture will be invaluable. It was also Australia’s largest defeat in the World Cup knockouts.
Kyle Sinckler scored an unexpected try in this game, becoming the sixth prop to score a try in a knockout game, and the first in eight years.
2022: England win tour in Sydney
The last time these two sides faced each other was two years ago in 2022, and England managed to win the series 2-1 down under with a 21-17 win against the hosts, courtesy of Marcus Smith and Freddie Steward tries.
With Australia winning the first test 30-18, it looked like it could have been a first series win for the Wallabies since 2006, but following two tightly fought and spirited performances, England would come up trumps and take the series.
Although it looked like Australia would come back in the third test following a 21-10 deficit, England managed to hold on, something that they will hope becomes a more prevalent part of their game following recent defeats in which they have collapsed late on.
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