The similarities are remarkable. Australia, like England, are a side looking to become a world force once more and the midfield combinations confirm it: Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane will play centre for the Wallabies and they have won 12 caps between them, just like their opposite numbers at Twickenham tomorrow, Dan Hipkiss and Shane Geraghty.

There is a sense of "out with the old, in with the new" about Australia as they prepare to play England in the Investec Challenge Series.

Not change for change’s sake, Robbie Deans is far too shrewd a coach for that, but a desire to move away from the post-John Eales era during which the Wallabies have promised much but delivered on far too few occasions, compared with the 1990s, when they won two World Cups. Nowhere is that typified more than in Deans’s choice of Rocky Elsom as captain.

The offer took Elsom by surprise, but in Leinster they will recognise why the blind-side flanker has been given the job. Last season, the Irish province turned from a talented but flaky outfit to champions of Europe and the edge that Elsom brought them had something to do with that. “They were called ‘ladyboys’ a lot over there and that seemed a bit harsh,” Elsom, 26, said.

It is certainly not a label you would pin on him. “Rocky’s a strong man, strong in mind as well as body,” Deans said. “A good bloke to have alongside you. He doesn’t like to give ground, he has the ability to inspire others.”

Tomorrow will be only the second occasion on which Elsom has led out Australia — the first was in Tokyo in the 32-19 defeat by New Zealand last Saturday — and he is in no doubt about the significance of the occasion.

“A lot of people say that in a couple of years we’ll be flying because of all the youngsters we’ve got,” Elsom said. “But you could have said that in 2003 [when they lost to England in the World Cup final], nothing is a foregone conclusion. You only have the chance that you have now, it’s not a handicap match, you can’t guarantee there will be further opportunities.

“You grow as a player and as a team when you’re winning. You do learn lessons when you lose, if you choose to take them on board. But that’s the key to this group, if it does develop to its potential, it will come through being successful. Not that many of the guys who were here nine months ago are still here — we’re almost the exact opposite of where South Africa are, where they have combinations with double-digit games together.

“It’s important for the team to win right now and I don’t think that’s lost on the group. There’s a lot of things we’re up against, as there are with England. There’s a lot of reasons why you might not win, but no one wants to hear them.”

Elsom has a reputation of knowing his own mind. As a youngster he joined Canterbury Bulldogs to play rugby league because he thought it suited his style. He was convinced, when his contract with the Australian Rugby Union was up for renegotiation last year, that he would benefit from a season in the northern hemisphere and Leinster — with Michael Cheika and Alan Gaffney, two countrymen, at the helm — was an obvious choice.

He discovered in Dublin how to adapt his game to differing conditions. “Australia are very well organised, everything is well planned,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily like that with Leinster.”

But Elsom benefited from his nine months away and Australia were quick enough to offer him a new deal in the summer. Tomorrow he will be joined in the back row by his immediate predecessor as captain, George Smith, who wins his 107th cap. On Sunday, another past leader, Stirling Mortlock, will join the squad and all of a sudden, Australia look like no one’s idea of pushovers.