If his boyhood dream had come true, Harry Wilson would have engaged in his first battle against England in London with a baggy green on his head at Lords, not at Twickenham in red headgear.
The Wallabies captain is, in his words, a bona fide “cricket nuffy” and loves nothing more than devouring Ashes cricket; be it on home turf, or from the couch into the wee hours of the morning.
“It’s 8pm start [in an England series], so I will normally at least get the first two sessions in,” Wilson said. “I enjoyed our last Ashes series over here; we’ll take that as a win – it was a draw, but we’ll take it as a win.”
Wilson was a very handy cricketer at school, and in a knock that can be found on YouTube, famously smashed a 35-ball century for the Gregory Terrace first XI, in Brisbane in 2017. One of his junior teammates was Nathan McSweeney, who Wilson heartily endorses as the obvious choice to fill the opener vacancy for Australia.
“I probably preferred my cricket throughout my schooling life – I’m very much a cricket nuffy; I live and breathe it,” Wilson said.
“But I guess when you start growing quite big, your body sort of becomes a bit more suited to our rugby. By the time I was in late grade 11 I knew that footy was the avenue I wanted to go down.
“It’s good to have that love for cricket. Obviously I’m fully invested into my rugby, but [it’s good to] to have a little outlet where I go to Test matches or just sit up all night watching them.”
Wilson doesn’t play any more but can still clear the pickets: he hit Marnus Labuschagne for a few maximums at a recent promotional event.
But rugby became his day job and the 24-year-old will captain the Wallabies for a fifth time on Sunday morning (2.10am, AEDT). He will be one of 11 players running onto Twickenham for the first time.
Harry Wilson takes part in a training session in London.Credit: Getty Images
Wilson has played against England once before – fittingly at the SCG in 2022 – but he is delighted to charge headlong into a bit more of the famous Australia-England rivalry on foreign soil.
“The opportunity to verse England in their own backyard is so exciting – both teams have a lot of respect for each other, which is why there is such good rivalry,” Wilson said.
So what is his verdict on the Bairstow dismissal?
“Great decision Alex Carey; don’t walk out of your crease.”
After a few years in and out of Dave Rennie’s Wallabies teams, Wilson was one of a number ignored by Eddie Jones entirely last year. He returned in July for his first Test in 665 days, and was shocked to get the nod as captain by Joe Schmidt later in the Rugby Championships.
The time in exile ended up being beneficial, Wilson said.
“I really tried to grow as a person, grow as a football player and I feel as if a few of my failures have really, I guess, probably made me a better football player,” Wilson said.
“Last year missing out on the World Cup, I came over here on a Barbarians trip and got coached by a few different coaches and played with new players and learned a lot about myself and different ways of playing footy, and that gave me a lot of motivation to come in this year and get back into this gold jersey.”
Wobbly Australia XV draw with Bristol Bears
A try in the 80th minute helped the Australia XV escape with a 10-all draw against Bristol in a frustrating exhibition match at Ashton Gate on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
Lachie Anderson scored both of the Australia XV’s tries, with one in each half, but Ryan Lonergan was unable to knock over a sideline conversion after the hooter for the win.
A draw was a fitting result for both sides, in any case, with Bristol defending stoutly to force errors from the Australians and deny the momentum needed to pile on the points.
There were strong performances from a handful of Aussie XV players, with Anderson, Tom Hooper, Rory Scott and Josh Flook all catching the eye, and Lonergan bringing a spark from the bench. Lachlan Lonergan was also busy in his first major match back from injury.
Lachlan Anderson of Australia scores for the Australia XV against Bristol.Credit: Getty Images
But the Australian XV were left to rue an over-abundance of errors and some set-piece wobbles, too. In a stop-start game, weapons like Corey Toole and Andy Muirhead never got the ball in space.
Bristol looked more dangerous in long-range attack but the Premiership outfit also dropped plenty of ball, and cost themselves a chance to win.
The Australia XV also lacked the direction offered by a regular No.10, with midfielder Hamish Stewart looking rusty back in the driver’s seat. Wallabies pivot Tom Lynagh is in the squad but he and several other Reds players who played a friendly in Japan last weekend were not considered for the game. (They will all be available next week.)
With no playmaking back-up on the bench, Jock Campbell was even called on to play at first receiver for the last 15 minutes.
Unused Wallabies squad playmaker Tane Edmed would have been a perfect solution, but for reasons that still don’t make sense, the Wallabies and the Australia XV are running entirely separate tours.
“A-zone completion was really disappointing from us. Bristol are a really good team,” Hooper said post-match.
“We saw enough there to be quietly confident for next weekend [against England A in London], but that being said, our ball handling will have to be a lot better. Our physicality was there but execution was off the mark, to be honest.”
Hooper was a standout figure in the first half, carrying with power and running over the top of several defenders.
“It was great, a perfect opportunity to get some minutes for a couple of us who have been on the fringe and holding tackle bags, so we were very grateful for that,” Hooper said.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
