Ben Youngs has warned Australia that England have yet to show their hand at the World Cup and dismissed concerns they will be undercooked for the first quarter-final in eight years against the Wallabies this weekend.
England advanced as Pool C winners by virtue of the match against France on Saturday being cancelled, cruising through to the last eight with comfortable bonus point wins against Tonga, USA and Argentina, who were down to 14 men early on.
The cancellation also means England will have had a two-week break before facing Australia – a side they have beaten six times in a row since Eddie Jones took over as head coach. The last time they lost against Australia was at the 2015 World Cup when the fly-half Bernard Foley inspired a 33-13 win to dump England out of their own tournament.
Youngs started at scrum-half that day and remembers England being shellshocked by Australia’s ability to produce the unexpected but believes his side can turn the tables on Saturday in Oita.
“We haven’t shown a huge amount in any of our games,” Youngs said. “Against USA and Tonga we kept it pretty low key. Against Argentina we had a bit more in the playbook but again didn’t need to show our hand. We will make sure we have things we haven’t had to use yet.
“Australia are very clever in how they attack – they are smart, you think they are going to do one thing and they do something different. I have always found them challenging in that aspect.They always have a few things up their sleeve that you don’t expect so it is important that we prep for that. But haven’t had to show a huge amount yet – and that’s a good thing.”
Youngs has represented England against Australia more often than any other nation – Saturday will be his 16th appearance against the Wallabies including British & Irish Lions matches – and has a number of fond memories. While his first Test start ended in defeat in Perth, he scored a stunning try on his second in Sydney when England clinched a memorable 21-20 win.
“It is always big whenever you play an Australian fixture,” Youngs said. “It always has been. There is a great rivalry, not just in rugby but throughout with the Ashes. Whenever you play the Aussies you want to do it, especially if you are English and vice versa.”
The relationship between the respective head coaches and former Randwick teammates adds to the rivalry and Michael Cheika has already stirred the pot by suggesting England “have to win” because they have played one match fewer and have spent the weekend back in Miyazaki, 700 miles south of Tokyo, out of harm’s way from Typhoon Hagibis. “It would be bizarre [if we go out on Saturday],” Youngs said. “The thing is, we’ve had pre-season games too and they were tough games, so we’ve had a good run of games. I certainly don’t feel like we’re undercooked. I think we’re in exactly the right spot.”
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Team guides
Pool A: Ireland, Japan, Russia, Samoa, Scotland
Pool B: Canada, Italy, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa
Pool C: Argentina, England, France, Tonga, USA
Pool D: Australia, Fiji, Georgia, Uruguay, Wales
Young is one of four players in Jones’s squad with experience of a World Cup knockout match, having played in the quarter-final defeat against France in 2011.
Then France were in disarray, having lost to Tonga in their pool but the fact they beat England means Youngs will not read too much in his side’s recent run of victories over Australia.
“The psyche is from my experience of playing against teams when you’ve always come up short, you almost get even more motivated to chuck everything at them. We have to just make sure that we keep level-headed about it and don’t rely on what has happened before – thinking that will be enough, because it won’t be.”
