England rugby union head coach Steve Borthwick and his assistant Richard Wigglesworth met with cricket counterpart Brendon McCullum ahead of Saturday's Test against Australia.

The Red Rose take on the Wallabies at Twickenham in the first of four Tests in November.

A second-string England side beat Argentina and the United States in their most recent matches back in July.

England finished second in the 2025 Six Nations, but ahead of the upcoming matches against Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina, the coaching staff have turned to outside influences to ensure they are doing all they can to push the squad on.

That has included a trip to Manchester to speak with England cricket coach McCullum, who has enjoyed success with his aggressive "Bazball" approach.

"We talked about loads of stuff and there was a lot of mindset stuff," Wigglesworth said, as reported by BBC Sport.

"I asked Brendon how he changed that in English cricket, which was really interesting. Then we got into the technicalities of coaching someone one-on-one, what that looks like, his role as head coach in that versus his assistants.

"We sat for a good period of time and took loads from it. They're on to a good thing."

Team news is in

Steve Borthwick has named his 23-player squad for Saturday’s @QuilterNations opener against the @wallabies.@O2 | #WearTheRose

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 28, 2025

While England are taking on Australia in both rugby codes in November, there is also the small matter of the Ashes coming up for McCullum's cricketers.

England's Test squad face their fierce rivals in the five-match series, starting on November 21 in Perth.

"They'll go out and give it a great dig – as English teams who are playing against Australia want to – and hopefully we stick one on the board on Saturday," said Wigglesworth.

"It's a great rivalry with Australia. Both sides really enjoy playing against each other because there's something there. Bring on Saturday."