Australia skipper Harry Wilson has backed his bench to defuse England‘s Bomb Squad and avoid a repeat of the Twickenham blow out in 2025.

Last year, England ran away from Wilson’s side in the final quarter, winning 25-7, after being just three points ahead on the hour, after unloading their replacements.

That day, props Ellis Genge and Will Stuart, plus hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie exploded off the bench alongside Henry Pollock plus Tom Curry to take the game away from the Wallabies.

England have the three front rowers and Pollock plus George Martin and debutant Greg Fisilau to add second half muscle this afternoon in the Nations Championship clash.

Enough in the tank

But Australia have loaded their replacements with back row Rob Valetini making a rare appearance as a substitute alongside Carlo Tizzano and heavyweight prop Taniela Tupou.

And Wilson reckons his side have got enough in the tank to survive the onslaught late on and repeat their win of 2024 – when Max Jorgensen scored a late winner.

Wilson said: “It’s obviously different for Bobby but it’s just genuine X factor coming off the bench.

“It’s rugby now, a lot of teams have some really strong players coming off the bench and I think we’ve got one of the best players in his position in the world there.

“If it’s close around that point when you have a player like him coming on, it gives the boys a lot of confidence.

“That’s what England did to us last year and hopefully Bobby can really spark us from the bench again this year.

“A lot of games are an arm wrestle in the first 40, 50, 60 minutes and then it’s whoever breaks first.

“We’ve got to be better at staying the fight there for longer.”

England spent Friday – through Jamie George and Maro Itoje – publicly backing boss Steve Borthwick after allegations of a split in the camp on the summer tour.

George and Itoje both claimed the episode would bring the squad even closer but Wilson has vowed to see just how strong their bonds are when the heat is on.

He added: “It could go one or two ways for them.

“It’s on us to put them under pressure to see how close they are as a team.

“We know how close we are, how much we care for each other and how much we love playing for our coaching staff.”

Australia arrive on the back of 10 Tests this year, with five wins, four losses and a draw.

They knocked over world champions South Africa, 42-38, in a madcap game in Perth in September but came up short twice against the All Blacks.

But, with a home World Cup looming next year, they are building under new head coach Les Kiss.

“They’ve had our number this year,” said Wilson. “But against every other team we’ve been there or thereabouts.

“We’ve got a really strong squad with depth and you can see what sort of bench we’re rolling out this weekend.

“It brings us a genuine impact into the game with a really strong starting 15.”