Australia will be going all out in the third and final Test to beat England and in doing so avoid a clean sweep of losses to England this month.
Last week’s second test loss gave England the series victory and now Australia need a consolation win this weekend to avoid the embarrassment of whitewash at home.
England will no doubt head into the match with confidence as they been able to keep most of their team together from last week.
There were two changes for the second test and just one this week. The one England change is however a big one as James Haskell has been England’s man of the match in both tests and has been replaced by Teimana Harrison who made his debut last month against Wales.
Australia on the other hand have made three changes for this week. Will Skelton and Matt Tomas both return to the Test arena for first time this season, while Rob Simmons makes his way back into the starting XV after sitting out the second Test in Melbourne.
Tomas makes his return after a six-week lay off due to a knee injury to start at inside centre, while Skelton is back to full fitness after coming off a long term shoulder injury.
Toomua will give Australia a lot more on attack while Skelton will add a lot more physicality.
Australia lost the first Test by 11 points and the second Test by 16 points. It’s unlikely that England will win by a larger margin this week as there is less motivation this week as the objective has been achieved already from England’s point of view.
Winning a – first ever – series was a massive achievement for England but a clean sweep of wins does seem to be a bridge to far.
This Match will be shown on TV in NZ (Sky), Aus (Fox Sports), SA (SuperSport) and in the UK on Sky Sports 3.
Average score: Australia 21 England 16
Last five results
Sat, 18 Jun 2016 AUS v ENG 7-23 AAMI Park, Melbourne
Sat, 11 Jun 2016 AUS v ENG 28-39 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 03 Oct 2015 AUS v ENG 33-13 Twickenham, London
Sat, 29 Nov 2014 AUS v ENG 17-26 Twickenham, London
Sat, 02 Nov 2013 AUS v ENG 13-20 Twickenham, London
Australia’s overall record against England
Played 46, Wins 25, Losses 20, Draws 1
Date : Saturday 25 June 2016
Venue : Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Kick Off local: 19.00
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Ref 1: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Ref 2:Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
TMO :Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Teams
Australia
1. James Slipper , 2. Stephen Moore (c) , 3. Sekope Kepu , 4. Will Skelton, 5. Rob Simmons, 6. Scott Fardy, 7. Michael Hooper (vc) , 8. Sean McMahon, 9. Nick Phipps , 10. Bernard Foley , 11. Rob Horne (vc), 12. Matt Toomua , 13. Tevita Kuridrani , 14. Dane Haylett-Petty , 15. Israel Folau ,
Replacements : 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau , 17. Scott Sio, 18. Greg Holmes , 19. Adam Coleman , 20. Wycliff Palu , 21. Nick Frisby, 22. Christian Leali’ifano, 23. Taqele Naiyaravoro.
England
15. Mike Brown ,14. Anthony Watson,13. Jonathan Joseph ,12. Owen Farrell ,11. Jack Nowell ,10. George Ford,9. Ben Youngs ,8. Billy Vunipola, 7. Teimana Harrison ,6. Chris Robshaw ,5. George Kruis ,4. Maro Itoje ,3. Dan Cole,2. Dylan Hartley (c) ,1. Mako Vunipola
Replacements : 16. Jamie George,17. Matt Mullan ,18. Paul Hill ,19. Joe Launchbury ,20. Courtney Lawes ,21. Jack Clifford ,22. Danny Care,23. Elliot Daly
