Rugby Union’s autumn tests kick off this weekend with an absolute cracker for spread betting fans as England take on old adversaries Australia at Twickenham. Those spread bettors supporting England will be concerned that Martin Johnson’s options have been severely limited by injuries with as many as 20 players forced to pull out of the elite squad. There’s plenty for spread punters behind Australia to worry about too, after their young and experimental squad’s forgettable Tri-Nations. Despite earlier wins over the Barbarians, Italy and France, Robbie Dean’s side went on to win just one of their six matches against New Zealand and South Africa.

Overall, England and Australia have met on 36 occasions with the Wallabies winning 21, losing 14 and a single draw. To the delight of buyers of the Australians’ win index spread (25 points for win plus winning score) that includes winning the last meeting at Twickenham 28-14. Spread sellers and buyers of England’s win index will, however, point to the fact that the English were victorious in the previous game, a tight 12-10 win during the 2007 World Cup. Those same spread bettors will be impressed by the more recent head-to-head record, as will sellers of the Aus/Eng supremacy spread - in the last 12 matches against Australia, since 2000, England shade it with seven wins to the Aussies’ five.

Supremacy spread buyers would dearly love a repeat of the Wallabies’ highest winning margin over the hosts, a 76-point drubbing in 1998, while spread punters predicting a home victory might expect a narrower margin of victory given that England’s largest win over their rivals was by 17 points in 1976. The closest result between the sides was a thrilling 32-31 England victory in 2002. During Martin Johnson’s last six games, in which his team recorded just three wins, England scored an average of just over 26 points per game with an average winning margin of 11 points.

Punters looking at the total tries spread market will be interested to know that in the last ten matches between the sides a total of 41 tries were scored. Those keen for a spread bet on England total points should also know that in their previous ten against the Wallabies they have averaged 18.4 points while, in the same period, the total average points accumulated by both sides is just under 45. Sporting Index offer plenty of other exciting markets for spread bettors who might be unsure about the outright result including their performance supremacy spread, where points are awarded for match outcome, tries, kicked goals and deducted for missed kicks and cards shown. Other punters may defer their spread betting decision until kick-off and take advantage of Sporting Index’s in-running spread markets. Spread punters doing so should note that England have lost 12 of their last 17 final quarters at Twickenham but - as anyone who remembers Johnny Wilkinson’s last-gasp drop goal in the 2003 World Cup final will know - anything can happen in international rugby, and in this fixture in particular.