Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live coverage of this morning’s England squad announcement for the second Test against Australia in Brisbane, with Eddie Jones set to reveal his line-up at 7.15am BST.
Flanker Sam Underhill, who is set to replace Tom Curry in England’s back row, believes the relegation battle will be key to leveling the series.
Michael Hooper was the dominant figure in the home side’s 30-28 win in the first Test, ruling the contest on the field, including one game-changer.
Underhill insists dominating the breakdown will be key to ending England’s four-game losing streak.
“We controlled areas of the game pretty well for a decent chunk of the game, but in the end penalties and discipline cost us,” Underhill said. “Whether the breakdown was more competitive than we thought or not, we didn’t adjust to the interpretation at the breakdown.
“You can’t have an attack without a functioning attack bust, and vice versa – you can’t defend endlessly, so bust is a pretty good area to target if you want to stifle an attack.
“It’s always a huge area of contention, especially in Test rugby against southern hemisphere countries and especially Australia, who make it quite difficult. Once you get the breakdown right, everything else becomes easier.
“Hooper is obviously a big threat to break down. It’s not about tagging the guy, but as a team you’re aware that if he’s around the breakdown, he’s very likely to compete. You have to change him early because he’s good over the ball.”
Curry was ruled out of the tour after suffering concussion in the first Test, his third head injury in the past six months. Underhill has been out for more than two months after suffering back-to-back concussions either side of Christmas. His empathy for his fellow “Kamikaze Kid” is mixed with concern about the increasing amount of clashes.
“At Test level, Tom is a machine and I’m upset for him that his tour has ended early,” Underhill said. “Rugby is a more physical game than ever before. There are big athletes who move very well and at test level you don’t have much reaction time. Collisions are faster.”
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