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Steve Borthwick’s England hope a meeting with Brendon McCullum can help them start months of national sporting domination over Australia in both rugby and cricket.
Borthwick’s rugby side begin a crunch autumn campaign of four matches at Twickenham on Saturday with the Wallabies first up and Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina to follow.
On November 21, England’s cricketers – led by their head coach McCullum – will start their Ashes campaign Down Under against Australia in what is set to be a mouthwatering series.
With England-Australia rivalry set to dominate the sporting landscape in the next few months, the country’s rugby stars plan on kicking things off with a victory this weekend.
‘We met Brendon and his coaching staff a few weeks ago,’ said Richard Wigglesworth, England rugby assistant and head coach Borthwick’s right-hand man.
‘We had a sit down and a coffee with him in Manchester which was very enjoyable. They'll go out and give it a great dig as all English teams want to.
Steve Borthwick has lifted the lid on a secret meeting with cricket coach Brendan McCullum
‘It's a great rivalry, isn't it? It's one both sides really enjoy playing because there's something there. So yes, bring on Saturday.
‘Hopefully, we stick one on the board. I'm not sure how we're going to go in the Ashes.’
The high-octane, entertaining brand of cricket New Zealander McCullum has introduced since taking charge of England has seen his team’s style of play nicknamed ‘Bazball.’ It is a term McCullum himself dislikes.
But regardless of monikers, England’s rugby stars want to entertain and win too.
‘We feel we've got a dynamic team, so we want to play that way,’ said Wigglesworth.
England will open their autumn on the back of a seven-match winning streak.
McCullum takes England to Australia in search of a first Ashes series win Down Under in 15 years
But they will take on the Wallabies – who are battle-hardened from the summer’s Rugby Championship – with just four training sessions in the bank since the squad first met up on Sunday night.
This match takes place outside of World Rugby’s designated Test window. It means Australia are without their players contracted to English and French clubs such as giant La Rochelle lock Will Skelton.
Joe Schmidt, the Wallabies head coach, on Thursday named his team for England with giant tighthead prop Taniela Tupou in the starting XV.
Tupou – known as ‘Tongan Thor’ given his Pacific Island heritage – is a fearsome physical specimen but has struggled for form and confidence in recent times and was a peripheral figure as Australia were beaten by the Lions in the summer.
