Harry Wilson has got used to upsetting the odds as the Wallabies' inspirational leader — and he's confident his gold-shirted underdogs are ready to pull off another unlikely Twickenham heist.
Few outside of Australia had given the Wallabies a prayer last year of ending a woeful sequence against England at their London 'HQ' but the then novice skipper Wilson proved magnificent, scoring his first international try while leading his men to their first win at Twickenham in nine years.
The same people could never have imagined Wilson's army might then upset the mighty British & Irish Lions, but they did just that in Sydney, and could reflect on how they'd even been just one controversial score away from winning the entire series.
Then there was Ellis Park. Surely, Australia couldn't possibly win at the world champs' Johnnesburg citadel where they'd never won in 62 years? Wilson's army made a nonsense of that.
This time, the Wallabies again have it all stacked against them - travel-weary, battle-weary and much changed after a long flight from Japan, deprived of key players through regulations seen as unfair, up against full-strength, raring-to-go hosts who have accused them of dirty breakdown tactics.
Yet these are the sort of odds that Wilson enjoys, as he seeks to orchestrate the first back-to-back Wallabies wins over England at Twickenham for 16 years.
Wilson says there haven't been many games since he’s been captain, where they’ve been the favourites.
He says they're always the the outsiders, not many people back them and as a group, they enjoy that.
The skipper says they believe that they can go out there and do the job.
That epic 42-37 win kick-started a year which, Wilson believes, has transformed the Wallabies under Joe Schmidt's canny stewardship.
Wilson couldn't help smiling when reading a British newspaper story which reported England coach Steve Borthwick had met with Saturday's match referee, Nika Amashukeli, to point out examples of dangerous and illegal side-entries at the breakdown by Wallabies in the Rugby Championship.
The Wallaby says firstly, he would like to question of how many of them are illegal, and he knows they're definitely not dangerous there too.
He says there's no way Joe Schmidt would coach a team to be illegal at the breakdown.
The Wallabies play England at 3.10 tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, South Africa hosts Japan at 4.10am while the All Blacks play Ireland at 8.10am at Soldier Field Chicago.
[Source : rugby.com.au]
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