Former England winger Chris Ashton has criticised Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii after Australia’s 45-22 defeat by England at Twickenham, claiming the Wallabies star is not yet a Test-standard rugby union player.
Ashton, who won 44 England caps after switching from rugby league, questioned Rugby Australia’s decision to continue recruiting players from the NRL and said Suaalii would not be selected for England.
Speaking on the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast, Ashton said Australia had shown little energy during the heavy defeat.
“I think the biggest tell in games of this level is how much energy and effort that players are putting in, and Australia were operating at about 20 per cent,” he said.
“It was almost a carbon copy of last season. I just can’t get my head around it. We keep trying to find positives for Australia, and that they’re moving in the right direction, but I ain’t seeing it.”
Suaalii, who was moved to the wing for the match, enjoyed some success in aerial contests but carried the ball only eight times. Ashton said he remained unconvinced by the former rugby league player’s progress since making his Test debut at Twickenham in 2024.
“And they keep signing rugby league players. This Suaalii gamble, [I] dread to think how much he gets paid, he doesn’t look like a … international rugby union player to me,” Ashton said.
He added: “If he was English, he wouldn’t be playing for England. He just won’t be there. But yet he’s here, he’s running around every week for Australia.”
Ashton also criticised Suaalii’s work at the breakdown, saying it appeared the 22-year-old was still unsure of his responsibilities in union.
“When I’m watching him, I’m watching him ruck, he looks like me when I didn’t know, and I didn’t have a clue what was going on,” Ashton said. “He doesn’t know how to ruck, he doesn’t know where to hit the ruck.”
Rugby Australia has also signed Zac Lomax and Angus Crichton from the NRL in the past year, while Ashton said further league recruits were being targeted ahead of next year’s World Cup.
Former England scrum-half Ben Youngs was more sympathetic towards Suaalii, but said Australia’s performance had exposed wider problems. He pointed to England back-rower Henry Pollock being able to play on the wing without being targeted by the Wallabies.
“He was laughing after the game about how easy it was and that’s a damning indictment of Australia,” Youngs said. “If England were playing against New Zealand, France or South Africa, they would ruthlessly try to target him off strike moves and contestable kicks.”
Youngs added that Australia had failed to show sufficient awareness during the match, despite having players such as Mark Nawaqanitawase and Suaalii available to them.
Gerard Meagher described the Wallabies’ display as “woeful”, saying they had shown little of their usual counter-attacking threat or ball-carrying power until the match was already beyond them.
England hooker Jamie George, however, rejected the suggestion that Australia had simply failed to perform, arguing that England’s display had prevented them from playing their preferred game.
“I thought they played well today. I genuinely thought that they were pretty good across the whole,” George said.
“I think maybe the key here is to focus on how we were able to not let them play their game because they’re a very, very good team, and I think they’ll show that throughout this autumn.”
