Harry Wilson has already hit Marnus Labuschagne for six – and now the Wallabies’ cricket-mad skipper would love nothing more than to dish out the same to England in ‘rugby’s Ashes’.
Wilson leads his side into battle at Twickenham on Sunday (2.10am AEDT), knowing they’re heavy underdogs after a dispiriting sequence of three straight losses under his stewardship.
But in what promises to be a pivotal Test for two developing sides who are nursing losing 4-5 records in 2024 and can hardly afford another morale-sapping loss, Wilson is taking inspiration from the nation’s cricketers who he watched on TV last year late into the night when they retained the Ashes.
Harry Wilson . (Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
The 24-year-old Wilson accepts the figures look bleak – England have won 10 of the last 11 Tests between the teams – but he smiled on Friday’s eve of match: “We don’t have the best record against them in the past few years, but there’s nothing better than trying to get one up on them.
“We have such good rivalry in many sports. I love my Ashes cricket and you know how intense that rivalry is. The opportunity to play against England in their own backyard is so exciting. It would be exciting for us to get one up on them.”
A decent junior player himself and still the record-holder for the fastest century (off 35 balls) ever hit in Queensland schools matches, Wilson reflected: “I probably preferred my cricket throughout my schooling life, I’m very much a cricket nuffy, I live and breathe it.”
Such a nuffy, indeed, that he was happy to pass on a bit of advice to Australia’s cricket selectors for the forthcoming series about who should be opening alongside Usman Khawaja.
“I played all my junior cricket and a lot of grade cricket with Nathan McSweeney back in Australia – I think we should pick him in the opening batsman for the first Test match against India,” grinned Wilson.
“You Englishmen probably don’t know him too well, but I’m sure in the next year or so, you’ll get to know him pretty well.”
Of his own prowess, he recalled: “I was in probably grade 11 when I knew that footy was the avenue I wanted to go down.”
Still, he hasn’t lost his touch. In August, he joined some of his Wallabies’ teammates for a net session with Labuschagne in Brisbane, and Wilson couldn’t help himself as he noted with some pride: “I hit him for. few sixes.
“But I guess for me, it’s good to have that sort of love of cricket still. I’m fully invested in my rugby, but just to have that little outlet where the Test matches are on and I’ll just sit up all night watching it, it’s always nice.”
He know there’ll be plenty of his countrymen who’ll be having their own early-hours vigil on Sunday morning watching Joe Schmidt-coached Australia trying to earn their first win at Twickenham for nine years and getting a first glimpse of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, on his much hyped international rugby debut.
“I’m super-excited for him. I reckon he’ll go out there and do himself and his family proud because it’s one heck of an opportunity for him,” Wilson enthused.
“At only 21 years old, he’s picked up the game very quickly. The way he’s trained and just the way he’s joined into the group has been awesome. It’s like he’s been here for a while.”
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
Overwhelming favourites to beat Australia for the 11th time in 12 Tests, England have meanwhile promised they won’t underestimate a Wallabies team driven by a “fantastic” coach and a sense of history.
Skipper Jamie George is adamant his side don’t see the game as a mere warm-up for England’s showdown the following week against world champs South Africa because he reckons they have too much respect for what Joe Schmidt’s side are capable of unleashing.
And with England having been guilty of taking their foot off the gas in some recent internationals and letting potential victories slip away, he is insistent that this time they will be brave and relentless throughout the 80 minutes in their quest for victory.
Asked about the clear expectation of home fans descending on a stadium which has been rebranded but which will always be just fortress Twickenham to them, George reckoned England could not afford to be sidetracked by the knowledge that Australia have won only one of their last six matches.
“I try to take as much of that context out of it,” said the 34-year-old hooker.
“It’s a massive rivalry, it’s historic. I respect what Australia are doing.
“Joe Schmidt is a fantastic coach and is the perfect person to take Australia on over these next few years.
“Of course, we want to go out and win but the less expectation we have on the game and how it is going to play out and what we are trying to get out of it, the better.
“We have got to focus on being clinical – game plan and executing. If you worry about that expectation too much, you can start sitting back and being fearful of failure rather than going out there and taking teams on.
“We will take Australia on on Saturday – that has been the message all week.
“We want play with courage, be brave, take teams on and never sit back. The challenge is, ‘can we do that for 80 minutes?’
“There’s a fine line between being relentless and almost reckless – we’re very clear about how we want to go about things.”
He reckoned he could see improvement in his side last week in the way they persevered against New Zealand, only to slump to an agonising 24-22 defeat after George Ford missed two late shots at goal, a penalty and a drop.
It was their third straight narrow defeat against the All Blacks, following their summer tour to New Zealand, but George insisted: “In New Zealand … we sat back, waited and tried to see out the game. I don’t think we did that on Saturday so we’ve seen improvements.
“We didn’t win, so of course we’re looking to get better at certain bits, but I saw huge strides in the team and there’s a huge amount to be excited about from the fans’ point of view.”
Newshttps://https://ift.tt/A1jXrEU captain picks his man in Test cricket opener debate as he readies for an Ashes battle of his own
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