THERE could be no finer way in which to wrap up the year for England than to take on Australia at Twickenham as they do this Saturday (2.30pm) in their final Old Mutual Wealth Autumn Series matches.

It’s the 48th game between the two that stretches back to 1909, would you believe, when they played at Blackheath and the visitors won 9-3.

That must have a been a cracker! The Aussies have the upper hand overall having won 25 of the previous clashes with England, winning 21 and with one match, at Twickenham back in November 1997, drawn, 15-15.

It was a shame that England’s Elliot Daly was sent off so early in last Saturday’s 27-14 win over Argentina, but while it was unlucky for him it wasn’t for England as it was their 13th successive victory.

Bring on Australia then. Their press wasn’t too kind to us back in June and quite disrespectful so there’s an added incentive for England to do well this weekend.

At least Ireland softened them up for us, beating them 27-24 last Saturday. A result which could indicate that Ireland are going to make the Six Nations a very interesting competition come the New Year.

Wales, at last, also had a reasonable win over the Boks, 27-13, and Scotland put in a good performance with a very convincing 43-16 win over Georgia.

Club wise, London Irish kept up their unbeaten Greene King IPA Championship run with a win against lowly Jersey Reds, while Redingensians Rams put in a solid National Two South performance at Clifton before losing out narrowly.

There was an excellent away win for seventh-placed South West One East side Reading Abbey, but unfortunately my boys, Reading, are now bottom the table after our loss at Grove.

The score didn’t really reflect the game and there was much that was positive about our performance. However, things are getting really serious for us now and with three very hard games before Christmas, we really need to buckle down and get something out of them.

Well done, though, to Berkshire Shire Hall who got the better of Oxford and are lying fourth in the BB&O Championship table.