LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Australia do not need much more motivation than a packed house at Twickenham on Saturday to bounce back after their weekend defeat in Scotland, scrum half Nic White said as they began their preparations for the test against England.
Australia take on England at the sold-out London venue six days after a narrow 15-13 loss nL1N2RY099 to the Scots at Murrayfield on Sunday that ended a five-match winning run for the Wallabies.
“Playing at a sold out Twickenham! That’s memories for life. We've got a great opportunity to go and do something that not many Australian teams have done before," White told a news conference.
“Some of our guys have never played there before, for some guys it's been a very long time since we played there. So, what an opportunity. Winning at home is good, but when you do it away from home, that's pretty special. And it's something you remember for the rest of your life.”
For White, 31, it is also a rare chance to go up against experienced England halfback Ben Youngs, who scored two tries against Tonga in England’s 69-3 win nL1N2RX0HL at Twickenham last Saturday as he marked his 110th cap.
“The one thing I've always admired about him (Youngs) is just his super consistency. It probably doesn't really seem like he has had really amazing performances, I'd say, for the most part they're all just really good performances," said White.
“But he never has a bad one. He always gives a consistent performance. If he's having a bad day, it's still a good day and if he has a good day, it's a great day,” he said.
The Wallabies are also looking forward to the battle of wits with countryman Eddie Jones.
“He’s the king of mind games, the type of guy you'd love to sit down, have a beer with and then talk rugby with,” White said of the England coach.
White added that Australia’s performance against Scotland had been “clunky”.
“But the positive is that for everything that went wrong for us, we were still two points away from getting a result in front of a packed stadium away from home. It's not all doom and gloom but there are areas we need to tidy up.”
Reuters