Here is a statistic that might comfort Wallabies fans looking ahead to the Twickenham clash against England with a degree of anxiety given the amount of good players who are unavailable.

England have not won the opening Test of their November campaign since 2021, when they beat Tonga.

Since then, they have suffered opening-night losses to Argentina (2022) and New Zealand (2024), and their coach Steve Borthwick seemed painfully aware of their slow November starts as he talked up their lack of preparation time this week.

But the biggest giveaway that England are searching for an answer to that problem came from their team selection.

Superficially, it’s a strange-looking team – almost lightweight up front, with baby-faced loosehead prop Fin Baxter joining Joe Heyes of Leicester in the fro

See Full Page