wallabies

“I asked Brendon how he changed that in English cricket, which was really interesting. Then we got into the technicalities of coaching someone one-on-one, what that looks like, his role as head coach in that versus his assistants.

“We sat for a good period of time and took loads from it. They’re on to a good thing.”

After beginning the series against Australia, England will also face Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina this autumn.

Meanwhile, the cricket team will play five Test matches as they look to regain the Ashes for the first time since they won in Australia a decade ago.

“They’ll go out and give it a great dig – as English teams who are playing against Australia want to – and hopefully we stick one on the board on Saturday,” said Wigglesworth, who was part of the British and Irish Lions set-up as they posted a 2-1 series win against the Wallabies in the summer.

“It’s a great rivalry with Australia. Both sides really enjoy playing against each other because there’s something there. Bring on Saturday.”

England are favourites against Australia, who are ranked seventh in the world.

The Wallabies finished third in the Rugby Championship with two wins from six games and beat Japan 19-15 in Tokyo on Saturday with a much-changed team.

“But we’ve also made a choice that we select domestically if the players are of equal calibre, it’s important that we invest in our premier competition in Australia.”

The Wallabies, who compete for domestic talent with Aussie Rules and rugby league clubs, have struggled for depth and consistency in recent years – sliding to sixth in the world rankings.

The two-time world champions suffered a pool-stage exit at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

Until 2015, Australia had a blanket ban on overseas-based players representing the Wallabies.

However, with the likes of playmaker Matt Giteau, wing Drew Mitchell and prop Sekope Kepu lured abroad by big contracts, ‘Giteau’s Law’ was introduced to allow a set number of overseas players – who had served time in Super Rugby and the national team – to still be picked.

The law has been further relaxed in recent years, with players with a commitment to return to Australian rugby excluded from the overseas quota.

Centre Len Ikitau and prop Angus Bell’s forthcoming season-long sabbatical stints at Exeter and Ulster are such moves.

However, Gleeson was reportedly excluded from a Wallabies training camp, external at the start of this year after news of his impending move to France became public.

Some surprises in the Line-ups

British and Irish Lions: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 James Lowe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Dan Sheehan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Joe McCarthy, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Jack Conan.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Bundee Aki.

Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Jake Gordon; 1 James Slipper, 2 Matt Faessler, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Jeremy Williams, 6 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (c).

Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Tom Hooper 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Andrew Kellaway.

Jac Morgan unlucky to not feature after a great tour and Will Skelton and Rob Valetini will be out for the first test through injury.