STUART BARROW is excited to see England test themselves against Australia tomorrow, but warned his side must fix up their errors if they are to avoid another thrashing by the Jillaroos.
It was a day to forget for England when the sides most recently met in Las Vegas last March, with the gulf between the sides evident as Australia ran out 90-4 victors.
Now, only Keara Bennett, Anna Davies, Georgia Roche, Liv Wood, Hollie-Mae Dodd, Jodie Cunningham and Vicky Whitfield remain in the England squad from that day.
Both sides got their World Cup campaigns off to a winning start last weekend, with England thrashing Wales 70-6 and Australia overcoming a stubborn Samoa 40-0.
But Barrow knows that his charges must step up their game if they are to avoid a repeat of the humiliation across the pond.
“We know what we’re facing,” he admitted. “We’re facing the world champions, and they are a high-scoring team in virtually every international that they play.
“We know the challenge ahead. It excites us.
“We’ve been working on our defence this week ready for that challenge.”
So, what does success look like for the England boss?
“We need to be really competitive,” Barrow stressed.
“But to do that, we need to handle the ball a little bit better than we did at the weekend just gone.
“There are learning lessons from the Wales game; we know if we have 16 errors against Australia then you get punished. You do by a quality side.
“Our job now is to fix that up and make sure that we’re better this weekend at that.”
Barrow has rung in the changes against Australia, with Woman of Steel Jenna Foubister coming in to partner Wigan teammate Isabel Rowe in the halves, seeing Georgia Roche drop to the bench, and both Molly Jones and Liv Wood replacing Georgia Wilson and Mary Coleman at centre and prop respectively.
England will also be without Sydney Roosters backrower Jasmin Strange, who made her international debut against Wales, with an ACL injury sustained in training, with Lucy Murray instead coming in to start.
And Barrow wants to see his side show exactly what they can do against Australia.
“You don’t get many opportunities to play Australia,” he explained.
“It could be another four years before you have the chance to possibly play them again, so you’ve got to embrace it and be excited by it.
“Personally, you’ve got to think ‘this is a chance to show what I can do on the world stage.’”
