Australia deny illegal breakdown tactics ahead of England clash

Australia captain Harry Wilson has rejected allegations from England that the Wallabies deliberately enter rucks illegally.

Wilson labelled the accusations as “amusing” and defended his team’s breakdown tactics as fair and legitimate.

It was reported that England head coach Steve Borthwick showed referee Nika Amashukeli video clips of Australian players entering rucks from the side.

The Wallabies dismissed the claim, pointing out that over the course of a season any team can be scrutinised for isolated incidents.

Wilson emphasised that head coach Joe Schmidt would not instruct his players to perform illegal tactics:

“There’s no way Joe would coach a team to be illegal at the breakdown.” He also suggested England may be seeking excuses ahead of their first Test of the series.

Despite being the odds-on favourites against Australia, Wilson said the Wallabies are used to being outsiders.

"There haven't been many games since I've been captain where we have been the favourites," Wilson said.

"We are always the outsiders and not many people back us. As a group, we enjoy that.

"We're so internally focused on improving and making sure preparation is right so that we believe in ourselves and believe in each other to do the job.

"Last year this game was a big turning point for us as a group, which really made us believe that on our day we can beat anybody in the world."