Wallaroos confident despite England's dominance ahead of WXV Test

On paper, the Wallaroos aren't given a chance of beating England in this weekend's WXV Global Series Test.

The Red Roses, as England is known, are on a 38-match winning streak, stretching back to 2022.

They're reigning Women's Rugby World Cup winners and have claimed eight straight Six Nations titles, which include a run of five consecutive Grand Slams.

England has never lost to the Wallaroos, with the most recent meeting — in last year's World Cup — finishing in a 47-7 victory to the tournament hosts in Bristol.

The Australians, though, aren't intimidated ahead of the Test in Salford, which will be played on Sunday morning, AEST.

They respect the Red Roses, but possess a quiet confidence in their ability to compete with the world champions.

"I think it will be a hard challenge," said Wallaroos winger Amelia Whitaker, who will make her Test debut.

"Obviously England [is] number one, but this week I feel like we've really rallied together so I think we're up for the task."

Wallaroos reserve forward Jemma Bemrose, who could debut off the bench, was similarly undaunted.

"They've [Red Roses] got a strong reputation, and they've achieved a lot as a team," Bemrose said.

"But I'm just really excited to embrace the challenge."

Wallaroos assistant coach Mike Ruthven knows England's strengths, but he believed there might be a chink in the Red Roses' armour.

"They're a pretty complete footy team," Ruthven said.

"We know what's coming, but we think we've identified a few things that we've been really able to target and have a crack at."

Rugby's 'benchmark'

The Red Roses' status as the top-ranked nation in the world did not come by chance.

England's governing body, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), made a wise investment in the women's game when it offered full-time contracts to players in 2019.

The Red Roses now have 32 full-time contracted players for the 2026/27 season, with an additional six players on transition contracts.

England's pathways haven't been ignored either, with the RFU boasting it's invested 14.5 million pounds ($27 million) in the community game.

The national team also benefits from a thriving club competition, Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR), which involves nine clubs playing 16 league matches each before a finals series is contested.

The RFU announced in June it's committing 24 million pounds ($45 million) to PWR across 10 years.

The Red Roses have been embraced by the English public, with 219,439 spectators attending their World Cup matches last year, including a global record of 81,885 at Twickenham when they beat Canada 33-13 in the final.

There was also a 336 per cent increase in TV viewing hours during the tournament, helping raise the visibility of the players amid England's crowded sporting landscape.

This is reflected in the fact that star back Ellie Kildunne finished runner-up in 2025's publicly voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, outpolling the likes of Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris.

It's all food for thought for Rugby Australia (RA), which is shifting the Wallaroos to a full-time program ahead of the 2029 World Cup to be hosted on home soil.

Some positive steps have already been made, such as the appointment of successful rugby sevens coach Tim Walsh as RA's director of women's high performance.

Australia has the playing and coaching talent to become a World Cup contender, but as Walsh recently acknowledged to ABC Sport, the Wallaroos must have the "infrastructure for them to be able to excel".

Ruthven, who is working under Walsh on the Wallaroos' staff until incoming coach Sione Fukofuka begins next year, rated England's program as the gold standard.

"The RFU have done a great job to support the women's game over here, underpinned by a really strong PWR competition," Ruthven said.

"You look at their players, and they're playing 20-odd competitive games of domestic football.

"You would like to think that is a bit of a benchmark. I think Rugby Australia are doing a really good job at the moment to … take the women's space to a similar level."

The Red Roses deserve to be the "benchmark" both on and off the field, and it's no surprise they're overwhelming favourites to win Sunday's Test, which is expected to be played in front of a sell-out crowd.

But as the Wallaroos squad have reminded themselves this week, it's a "two-horse race over 80 minutes".

"If we can go out and deliver on the things that we've talked about during the week and deliver on them consistently and compete really hard, stranger things have happened, right?" Ruthven said.