Dallaglio: Wallabies are worthy favourites

England captain Lawrence Dallaglio believes that history has swayed the odds against his team for Saturday’s World Cup final rematch against Australia.

Dallaglio’s men will record their sixth successive victory over the Wallabies if they triumph at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium.

But it is only during the last few seasons that they have achieved dominance in a fixture stretching back 95 years.

Australia are still ahead 16-12 in the overall series, even though their last win came courtesy of a 1999 Centenary Test triumph when wings Joe Roff and Ben Tune tore England apart.

England have also arrived on the Queensland coast following a 2-0 Test series defeat against New Zealand that saw them concede 72 points and fail to score a try.

“I think there is much more of a familiarity between the two teams than perhaps there is between England and the All Blacks, because of the way the fixture lists have unravelled over the last four or five years,” said Dallaglio.

“We’ve played Australia an awful lot, both home and away, so therefore they know a lot about us and we know a lot about them.

“Australia always have a very good chance of beating England. You have to realise that whatever team England has put out in the past, it was only last year that we actually beat Australia in Australia.”