The Autumn Nations Series – also known as the Spring Tour to Australian fans – gets underway this weekend with a belter as England host the All Blacks at Twickenham.
Australia, with Joseph-Okuso Suali in the 34-player squad, arrived on Friday for their Grand Slam tour of four Tests against England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
The Springboks and Argentina also head north while Fiji take on Scotland in the second of two games in the first week.
Every match of the Autumn Nations Series will be shown live on Stan Sports.
Teams will be added according to their names.
England v New Zealand, Twickenham, London, Sunday November 3, 2.10am AEDT
England: Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Ben Spencer, Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Emmanuel Faye-Waboso, George Furbank.
Replacement: Theo Dann, Finn Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isikwe, Ben Currie, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford.
New Zealand:
Childers Williams, Cody Taylor, Tyrell Lomax, Scott Barrett, Taupo Wai, Wallace Citti, Sam Kane, Ardie Savia, Cortez Ratima, Beauden Barrett, Caleb Clark, Jordy Barrett, Rico Ioane, Mark Tele’a, Will Jordan,
Replacement: Asafo Aumua, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Pasilio Tosi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Samipeni Finau, Cam Roigaard, Anton Lienert-Brown, Damien McKenzie.
talking points: New Zealand have already played one Test on their tour and easily defeated Eddie Jones’ Japan team last week. Scott Robertson retained only three from the team that defeated the Brave Blossoms and selected Beauden Barrett at number 10 ahead of Damien McKenzie after Barrett finished the Rugby Championship in Jersey.
England center Henry Slade will start despite playing just 54 minutes of club rugby this season after suffering a shoulder injury and Steve Borthwick’s side are facing injuries on several fronts.
Ben Spencer, whose previous six caps were as a replacement, replaces Alex Mitchell at number 9 with Bristol’s Harry Randall on the bench.
Tom Curry has been included in the back row alongside Chandler Cunningham-South and Ben Earl, with brother Ben Curry replacing him in a 6-2 bench split.
(Photo by Dan Mullan – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)
George Ford returns to the bench alongside Marcus Smith in the number 10 jersey after suffering a quad injury.
Joe Marler, another player who will miss the game through injury, called the All Blacks haka ‘ridiculous’ in the lead up – and that is likely to add some emotion to the pre-game exchange.
The All Blacks have had their share of injuries but will be boosted by two wins over England in New Zealand in July.
Prediction: The All Blacks have played big games recently and should perform better in Japan. It is going towards 27-20 towards the Southern Hemisphere.
Scotland v Fiji, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Sunday 3 November, 4.40am AEDT
Scotland: tbc
Fiji: tbc
talking points: Australia’s own Sione Tuipolutu will captain Scotland for the first time, while his brother Moses, straight from a disappointing season for the Waratahs, was in the wider squad before the squad was announced.
Both teams will be hit hard with the match falling outside the scheduled release window – meaning players from the English Premiership and France cannot be considered.
It is particularly difficult for Fiji coach Mick Byrne, with key players such as Vesia Naikalevu, Semi Radradra, Joshua Tuisova, Giuta Vainikolo, Inia Tabuavu, Eroni Mavi, Sam Matavesi, Temo Manyavanua and Albert Tuisu set to miss out.
Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorne are among the Scotland players who are certain to be ruled out.
Scotland forward Jack Dempsey, another Australian player on Townsend’s team, said, “His identity is a ‘banana skin’ thing where he can beat anybody in the world or lose to anybody in the world on any given day. “
“That’s the funny thing about them and that’s what makes our campaign difficult to start.
“They will probably be without some key leaders and it could be a game that will have some new caps as well. There’s always an element to that in the first game of the fall and it’s exciting, because those new guys bring energy and everything else.
“But against Fiji, first of all you need clarity, you need structure, and you need execution. These are all things we will pay attention to, and it’s also a case of not looking too far ahead. We know the Springboks are coming (on November 10), we know Australia are coming (two weeks later), but you can’t have a bad start.
Prediction: Scotland will have the cohesion and talent to make this a very difficult match with Mick Byrne stepping up following promotion from Fijian Drua. He will have mostly Super Rugby players for the game. Scotland would win 35–7.
upcoming games
(all times AEDT)
Ireland vs New Zealand, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Saturday 9 November, 7.10 am
England vs Australia, Twickenham, London, Sunday 10 November, 2.10 am
Italy vs Argentina, Stadio Friuli, Udine, Sunday 10 November, 4.40 am
France vs Japan, Stade de France, Paris, Sunday 10 November, 7.10 am
Wales vs Fiji, Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Monday 11 November, 12.40am
Scotland vs South Africa, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Monday 11 November, 3.10 am
Ireland vs Argentina, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Saturday 16 November, 7.10 am
Scotland vs Portugal, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Sunday 17 November, 2.10pm
England vs South Africa, Twickenham, London, Sunday November 17, 4.40 am
France vs New Zealand, Stade de France, Paris, Sunday November 17, 7.10 am
Italy vs Georgia, Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Monday November 18, 12.40 AM
Wales vs Australia, Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Monday 18 November, 3.10 am
France vs Argentina, Stade de France, Paris, Saturday 23 November, 7.10 am
Ireland vs Fiji, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Sunday 24 November, 2.10 am
Wales vs South Africa, Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Sunday 24 November, 4.40pm
Italy vs New Zealand, Allianz Stadium, Turin, Sunday 24 November, 7.10 am
Scotland vs Australia, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Monday 25 November, 12.40 pm
England vs Japan, Twickenham, London, Monday 25 November, 3.10 am
Ireland vs Australia, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Sunday 1 December, 2.10pm
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