Australia vs England: Eddie Jones' men on precipice of historic 'three-peat' victory against Australia in Sydney

The recall of Matt Toomua this week merely reminds us of the wealth of backline talent unavailable to the Wallabies

England coach Eddie Jones on the pitch at AAMI Park (Getty)

England find themselves in a unique position, twice over, as they prepare for Saturday’s third and final Test with Australia in Sydney. Not only are Dylan Hartley’s team assured already of a first series win away to any of the big-three southern-hemisphere super-powers, they also have a chance to complete a first 3-0 clean sweep.

The opportunity of a “three-peat” is a recent phenomenon – unlike the British & Irish Lions, the England team has only twice before played a trio of Tests on a single tour, losing 3-0 to New Zealand in 2014 and 2-0 with one draw in South Africa two years before that.

But England’s history of two-Test trips to Australia dates back to 1975, when the garrulous, hardnut Gloucester prop Mike Burton was sent off in the “Battle of Ballymore”.

In that year, as well as in 1988 and 2006, the Wallabies won both Tests for a 2-0 verdict; in 2010, Martin Johnson as England manager saw a then 20-year-old scrum-half by the name of Ben Youngs score a crucial try to celebrate his first start in a Test with a magnificent victory in Sydney, and the result squared the series.

Now Youngs will be starting in Sydney on Saturday for his 61st England cap, and Eddie Jones, an Australian, has done what Johnson and his predecessors could not, although perhaps Sir Clive Woodward and company might argue the pair of England wins in Melbourne in June 2003 and Sydney in November the same year to capture the World Cup, were ultimately more meritorious than the current results. After all, Australia are in a partial state of transition as they doled out four new caps in the first Test in Brisbane a fortnight ago, won 39-28 by England.

And the recall of Matt Toomua this week – the Leicester-bound inside centre and secondary playmaker is fit again after undergoing a knee operation in May – merely reminds us of the wealth of backline talent unavailable to the Wallabies through injuries to Kurtley Beale and others and the unavailability of the likes of Matt Giteau playing for clubs in France.

England will feel entitled to pooh-pooh any argument that last weekend’s defence-dominated second-Test victory by 23-7 at AAMI Park might have gone differently if they had been the ones fielding a mix-and-match set of backs. The red rose has wilted often enough in the past while being under strength in Australia – 76-0 in the one-off meeting in 1998 springs to mind – and with only one change to the 23-man squad this week England have made their intentions clear, to a backdrop of grand acclaim as Hartley and Jones were touted by former internationals Nick Easter and Martyn Williams as the best candidates to captain and coach the Lions’ tour next year.

A second cap for the New Zealand-born flanker Teimana Harrison in place of the injured James Haskell is England’s only alteration their 23-man match squad this week, as they retain the six-two split of forwards and backs on the bench, and Jones said: “He (Harrison) is a bit of a street fighter, he doesn't mind throwing it around a bit and we're going to need that on Saturday. There was no temptation to make changes for the sake of change. The team is motivated, fit and ready to go.”

Last week we ran ourselves into the ground and the English, to their credit, defended very well. But our structure was way out.

&#13; <p>Matt Toomua</p>&#13;

Toomua vowed to bring the Wallabies' outside backs – Tevita Kuridrani, Dane Haylett-Petty, Rob Horne and Israel Folau – into the game. "We need to be able to threaten them all over the park and not just up the middle," Toomua said, and the flanker Michael Hooper was another to warn England they would face a much more incisive attack. "Last week we ran ourselves into the ground and the English, to their credit, defended very well. But our structure was way out.

"Had that been in, we would have stressed the England line much more. They had two men on our ball runners. [If] you get some of our ball runners and attacking players out wide one-on-one, they won't stop them."

Rob Simmons has been recalled to the Wallabies’ second row after being dropped for the second Test, alongside the bulky Will Skelton who makes his first appearance of the series. The feeling may be new to England, but they face the challenge familiar to series winners of reproducing the wondrous fight and bite of the previous two matches.

These are heady days with the second-string Saxons just back from a 2-0 series win over South Africa’s A team and the country’s Under-20 team contesting the world junior championship final against Ireland in Manchester on Saturday evening. Among the seniors, Maro Itoje, Billy Vunipola, Owen Farrell and the others who have enjoyed a stellar 2016 now have a world ranking of No.2 to protect, too.