England head coach Stuart Lancaster has urged his players not to pay too much attention to the British and Irish Lions’ success in Australia earlier this year.
The autumn internationals begin this Saturday and Australia will be looking to end their poor run that has seen them lose seven of their 10 matches.
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie has targeted five wins from their European tour as he tries to turn their form around having taken over from Robbie Deans.
In the summer, seven England players played their part as the Lions triumphed in the third and final Test in Sydney, with five coming off the bench in the second half, but Australia beat England 20-14 last November and Lancaster is wary of the Aussies repeating the dose.
“I’m not expecting a backlash because the Lions are unique,” Lancaster said. “Australia will not look at us any more personally than they would Wales. They will enjoy the challenge of coming to Twickenham.
“The Wallabies are improving massively in their quality of performances. I saw them play Argentina and New Zealand and they were right up there. We know we face a massive threat against them. They’re a good side with quality players. We won’t be taking them for granted – we lost to them last year.
“This is a very competitive Australia side with 500-600 caps, but having said that we are at Twickenham. We will be quietly confident about what we are going to do.”
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