How to watch Australia vs England first test: TV channel, UK kick off time & team news for summer rugby tour

England’s rugby union side are getting set for the first of three matches in Australia as their summer test series against the Wallabies kicks off today.

Eddie Jones has selected a squad made up of experienced internationals and exciting new faces to go ‘Down Under’ as they try to replicate the success of their last tour in 2016.

The visitors won that series 3-0 and have not been beaten by the Aussies since, a run of eight consecutive wins for England.

Their last meeting was just over six months ago in the 2021 Autumn International series and finished 32-15 to the home nation at Twickenham, but this weekend will be the first time they have played on Australian soil since the 2016 series win.

Here is everything you need to know about when the first test will be played, how to watch it in the UK and when it will kick off:

When is Australia vs England first test?

The first test of the series is being played at Perth Stadium in Perth on Saturday, July 2 2022.

It will be the first time England have played at the 61,266 capacity arena which was officially opened in 2018.

The Wallabies are also playing at the stadium for just the third time with the previous two matches both against New Zealand.

The All Blacks won the last test match at the ground 38-21 in last year’s Rugby Championship.

England have not played in Perth since 2010 when they lost 27-17 at the Subiaco Oval.

The other two tests in the series will be played in Brisbane on July 9 and in Sydney on July 16.

Australia vs England UK kick off time

Rugby fans won’t have to get up too early to catch the first test of the series but it will be a morning start as the match kicks off at 10:55am BST.

In local time (AWST) that is a 5:55pm kick off.

All three matches in the series are scheduled to kick off at the same time in the UK but will be slightly later in Australia as Brisbane and Sydney operate on AWST which means a 7:55pm local time kick off for the second and third tests.

Australia, as a country, has three different time zones - Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST) and Australian Western Standard Time (AWST).

How to watch Australia v England first test on UK TV

Sky Sports have the rights to broadcast all three matches of England’s summer test series in Australia.

The first test will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event (Sky channel 401) and Sky Sports Action (Sky channel 407).

Sky customers can watch all the action on TV or online and on mobile devices via the SkyGo app which can be downloaded from most mainstream app stores.

Non-Sky customers can also watch the series by purchasing a subscription to NowTV.

The streaming service offers one day subscriptions or monthly subscriptions that will cover all three tests.

England team to play Australia

Courtney Lawes will captain the side for the first test of the tour.

England team to face Australia: Steward; Nowell, Marchant, Farrell, Cokanasiga; Smith, Care; Genge, George, Stuart, Itoje, Hill, Lawes (capt), Curry, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, M Vunipola, Heyes, Chessum, Ludlam, Van Poortlviet, Porter, Arundell.