The Nations Championship is a brand new international rugby union competition that was first announced back in 2023.

It has begun in 2026 after much discussion over the format and will be held biennially moving forward, with the next edition coming up in 2028.

It replaces the old summer tours that saw Northern Hemisphere teams going south for multi-Test series and the autumn internationals, when the Southern Hemisphere nations would then come north to play several games across November.

The competition will culminate in a series of finals to be held at Twickenham across a three-day period later this month.

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Sam Tabuteau is in position at Twickenham to preview a huge afternoon ahead for England and Steve Borthwick...

Australia are unsurprisingly planning to use the saga that has unfolded with England in the build-up to this game to their advantage at Twickenham this afternoon.

“It could go one or two ways for them and I guess it’s on us to put them under pressure to see how close they are as a team,” said Wallabies captain Harry Wilson.

“We know how close we are, how much we care for each other and how much we love playing for our coaching staff.

“All I’m really worried about us. I just want us to keep caring for this jersey, keep caring for every person in our group.”

Just under an hour to go now until kick-off at a grey, cold and misty Twickenham, where the atmosphere is building nicely despite the wintry weather.

Australia didn’t really turn up here 12 months ago, when Ben Earl and Henry Pollock scored quick-fire tries in a scrappy 25-7 autumn international victory for England.

However, a year before that was a 42-37 thriller that the Wallabies won dramatically thanks to Max Jorgensen’s last-gasp try in a match that saw the rugby union debut of high-profile and lucrative league convert Joseph Suaalii.

England have won three of their last five matches against Australia, who pushed the British and Irish Lions much harder than expected in a 2-1 Test series defeat last summer and whom they are projected to meet in the quarter-finals of next year’s World Cup Down Under.

Between 2016 and 2021, England won eight fixtures in a row against the Wallabies under Australian Eddie Jones - including the 2019 World Cup quarter-final in Japan and a historic whitewash on Australian soil in 2016.

The most impassioned defence of Steve Borthwick came from Jamie George, who captained England over the summer during the initial portion of the inaugural Nations Championship with Maro Itoje rested.

“This is galvanising, 100 per cent,” George said.

“We are incredibly tight and when someone comes at one of our own, we are going to fight to protect them.

“Leading into the weekend, we cannot wait to represent Steve in the most positive way because we’re going to show how much we care about him.

“He’s one of our own. He’s someone we respect massively. He’s someone that as I said has our backing wholeheartedly.

“I’m incredibly disappointed by this. There’s a lot of it that’s untrue. It’s clearly trying to create a divide within the group. Unlucky.

“The mood in camp in July was good on the whole. There are always going to be disagreements – in life, in rugby, in professional sport. There are always going to be heated moments.

“But ultimately we all knew that everyone has the best interests of the team at heart. It wasn’t a straightforward journey for us in the summer, that’s for sure.

“But equally for it to be said that there was a toxic environment and a negative environment – that’s just not true, hand on heart.”

England’s senior players have rallied around Steve Borthwick this week in light of that newspaper report, with Maro Itoje having held a meeting at Pennyhill Park on Thursday along with the rest of his leadership group - comprised of Ellis Genge, Jamie George and George Ford.

“I’m little bit shocked because it’s not what I recognise,” Itoje said of the reports.

“The framing of it I think is wrong and I don’t think is correct.

“I can wholeheartedly say Steve has not lost the faith of us players.

“We back him 100 per cent alongside all the other coaches.”

Another key player, Ollie Chessum, insisted that there were no problems at all behind the scenes.

“There is a real intention to divide a team here but I’ll tell you now it’s going to have the adverse effect on Sunday afternoon,” he said.

“The relationship between the playing squad as a whole and the management is great. It’s a happy camp.”

Steve Borthwick has rejected this week’s explosive newspaper reports that claimed there was a big rift in the England camp over the summer, which came to a head before the final match against Argentina.

The report claimed that some England players were unhappy with Borthwick’s management style amid a negative environment and wanted RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney to hear their complaints.

It was alleged that Borthwick also had a falling out with Ellis Genge, one of the squad’s stalwarts and leaders.

It is known that a meeting did take place after the summer, but was held virtually.

“I don’t recognise it as being an accurate reflection of the environment,” Borthwick said this week.

“I don’t recognise it as being an accurate reflection of relationships between me and the players, between the coaches and players.”

Despite that rather surprising contract extension, renewed public RFU backing and senior stars voicing their support for him this week, this has the feel of a must-win game for Steve Borthwick to calm the latest intense scrutiny on his position.

The explosive reports of a summer rift between the players and the head coach, accusations of a negative environment and the need for clear-the-air talks have rocked the camp and cast a huge shadow over the autumn, less than 12 months out now from the World Cup.

While England bounced back from their abysmal Six Nations and predictable thrashing in South Africa with back-to-back wins to end the summer, Fiji were appalling and played much of the game down a man, while only a controversial last-gasp TMO intervention saved them from frittering away a strong lead in a chaotic clash with Argentina in which they again racked up the yellow cards.

Australia head to Twickenham having made a rather inconsistent start under Les Kiss, upsetting a second-string South Africa side and winning their two series’ against Japan and Argentina, but coming seriously unstuck against the All Blacks once more.

But there have been signs of real progress and they will view this autumn campaign as an important yardstick ahead of the World Cup on home soil next year.

England to win, by 10 points.

Australia’s dangerous backline is completed by Max Jorgensen and Tom Wright, the former of whom’s dramatic last-gasp try secured a pulsating win for the Wallabies at Twickenham two years ago.

Josh Canham is drafted into the second row to join Reds team-mate Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, with Jeremy Williams shifting to the blindside.

The back row is completed by Fraser McReight, earning his 50th Australia cap today, and skipper Harry Wilson.

The Wallabies have some serious bench power with the likes of Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini and Carlo Tizzano, plus Josh Nasser and Isaac Kailea.

It’s a 5-3 bench split from Les Kiss, with Tate McDermott and Filipo Daugunu joining Ben Donaldson as back cover.

For Australia, the return of former Exeter star Len Ikitau in midfield is a major boost after he missed the second Bledisloe Cup Test against the All Blacks with concussion.

He partners Isaac Henry in midfield, with Joseph Suaalii pushed out to the right wing as a result.

Les Kiss keeps faith with Declan Meredith as his starting fly-half, which remains the problem position for the Wallabies with less than a year to go now until the World Cup on home soil.

Ben Donaldson is on the bench, with Carter Gordon left out entirely.

Meredith is joined at half-back by his Brumbies team-mate Ryan Lonergan.