Jamie George warns England to be ready for ‘hurt animal’ Australia in decider

Jamie George has warned England to be ready for a ferocious early onslaught from “hurt animal” Australia when the rivals clash in Saturday’s series decider.

Eddie Jones’ men made impressive starts in the first and second Tests, and even amassed a 17-0 lead in Brisbane that laid the foundation for a 25-17 victory to set up the high-stakes clash at Sydney Cricket Ground.

George insists it is no secret the Wallabies will be targeting one key area for improvement – and that England will meet them head on in their quest to become the first team to lift the Ella-Mobbs Cup.

“You almost don’t need to talk about the reaction from them. It’s pretty obvious. If the other team go 17-0 up then what are you going to talk about? Starting better. It doesn’t take a genius to work that out,” George said.

“We know they’re going to take it up a notch, but we almost want that in a way because when teams ramp it up a bit we tend to step up too. Fingers crossed.

“It’s about knowing that you need to be at your best. We know (head coach) Dave Rennie and (captain) Michael Hooper are going to be pumping those guys up, making sure they come out firing. Steam coming out of their ears. No problem.

“We need to be aware that they’re a hurt animal. We experienced a loss in the first Test and we know how it feels. We know the reaction it invokes, so we don’t worry ourselves too much with that.

We need to be aware that they’re a hurt animal. We experienced a loss in the first Test and we know how it feels- Jamie George

“We know that’s going to be the case so how do we make sure we come up with the same start, if not better?”

England are drawing inspiration from an unexpected source for Saturday’s Sydney showdown after being enthralled by the State of