England look to continue winning run against Wallabies

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has resisted the temptation to alter much of his team for the second QBE International this weekend, with only the one change from last week’s demolition of Fiji. Impressive Gloucester flier Charlie Sharples switches wings, with Ashton coming in at the expense of Ugo Monye, who drops out of the match day 23 altogether.

Australia meanwhile have made four changes for the clash at Twickenham on Saturday. Fullback Berrick Barnes and winger Digby Ioane return to the Wallabies' backline, in the places of Mike Harris and Pat McCabe, while second rower Sitaleki Timani and tight-head prop Ben Alexander also get the nod, taking over from Kane Douglas and Sekope Kepu respectively.

England will be chasing their third straight victory over the Wallabies, something they have only achieved once before under former coach Sir Clive Woodward. Previous results have come under former England boss Martin Johnson, home and away, including the equivalent fixture two years ago, fondly remembered by England fans for Chris Ashton’s memorable length of the field counter-attacking score. Any try will be a welcome result for the Saracens winger, who hasn’t scored for England in nine matches and has been speaking of his desperation to end it, starting this weekend.

Chris Ashton returns after his one-match suspension

Fresh from hammering Fiji, England will be full of confidence and favourites to heap more woe on Australia and their under-fire coach Robbie Deans whose side slumped to a heavy defeat to France last weekend. The talk in the England camp this week has been about removing any notion of overconfidence and understanding that the Wallabies are never more dangerous as when they’re coming off the back of an embarrassing loss.

On the potential for an Australia backlash after their Paris defeat, Lancaster added: "We will need to step up and our training this week has reflected that. The Aussies will have done a lot of work on their own performance this week after losing against the French. But the game before that they pushed the All Blacks to 18-18 and they are a very experienced side who have played some very good rugby over the last six months."
With the improvements to their team in the form of Alexander, Barnes and Ione, the Wallabies will be a much tougher prospect both up front and in the backline where Ione has shown himself to be one of the most dangerous runners in world rugby.

Tighthead Dan Cole will be looking to dominate

England dropped from fourth to fifth in the world rankings this week, and need to reclaim a place in the top four before the end of the year to be among the top seeds at the 2015 World Cup, something that should significantly help their chances at that tournament.

Whenever these two sides meet the debate inevitably centres on the scrum battle and the set-piece will once again be centre of attention at HQ. Australia's Tatafu Polota-Nau has expressed his side's desire to 'dominate' their hosts while England's Dan Cole insists his pack will be looking to pulverise the Wallabies. If things go to the English plan - combining a strong scrummage with the dual playmaking combination of Flood and Alex Goode to create the points, England should go well, but the chance of a big, comfortable win for the home side is unlikely.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head
- It will be the 41st meeting between the sides. Australia have won 23, England 16, with one draw in 1997.
- England's win in the most recent match (35-18 in November 2010) equalled their record margin of victory over the Wallabies.
- Australia have a far more experienced side than England with more than double the number of caps in their starting XV (527). England by contrast, field a side with just 242 caps, including four players with less than 10 caps.

England
- England have won eight of their last 10 Tests at Twickenham, including six of the last seven.
- England have scored at least one try in 27 of their last 29 Tests, racking up 67 in total. The only team to deny them since 2010 is Wales (twice).
- Chris Ashton has scored three tries in his last two Tests against Australia.
It will be England's 350th Test win if they beat Australia.

Australia
- Australia have not scored a try in their last two Tests. If they fail to do so again against England, it will be only the second time since 1899 that an Australia side has not scored a try in three consecutive Tests.
- Robbie Deans has used 40 different players in Australia's 12 Tests this year.
- Australia have won only two of their last five Tests and have won just two away matches in the last 12 months: 24-18 versus Wales in December 2011 and 25-19 versus Argentina in Rosario last month.
- Nathan Sharpe will be playing his 12th Test against England. Only George Gregan (16 matches) has played more for Australia against England.

TEAM LINE-UPS

England: 15-Alex Goode, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Manu Tuilagi, 12-Brad Barritt, 11-Charlie Sharples, 10-Toby Flood, 9-Danny Care; 1-Joe Marler, 2-Tom Youngs, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Geoff Parling, 5-Tom Palmer, 6-Tom Johnson, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 8-Thomas Waldron.

Replacements: 16-David Paice, 17-Dave Wilson, 18-Mako Vunipola, 19-Joe Launchbury, 20-Tom Wood, 21-Ben Youngs, 22-Owen Farrell, 23-Mike Brown.

Australia: 15-Berrick Barnes, 14-Digby Ioane, 13-Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12-Ben Tapuai, 11-Nick Cummins, 10-Kurtley Beale, 9-Nick Phipps; 1-Benn Robinson, 2-Tatafu Polota Nau, 3-Ben Alexander, 4-Sitaleki Timani, 5-Nathan Sharpe (captain), 6-Dave Dennis, 7-Michael Hooper, 8-Wycliff Palu.

Replacements: 16-Stephen Moore, 17-James Slipper, 18-Sekope Kepu, 19-Radike Samo, 20-Liam Gill, 21-Brett Sheehan, 22-Mike Harris, 23-Drew Mitchell.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee : Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees : Nigel Owens (Wales), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TV : Jim Yuille (Scotland)