Head coach Dave Rennie is taking a “long-term view” to create a “smart and expansive” Australia side, says Wallabies great David Pocock.

After a patchy 2020, the Wallabies strung together five wins in a row this year, including back-to-back victories over world champions South Africa, before being edged out by Scotland last Sunday.

“It’s really exciting to see what Dave Rennie is doing with the squad,” Pocock said.

“I look at their squad and there are so many young players in there, and he is definitely taking a longer-term view.

“It was a tough start against New Zealand this year, but since then we have started to build and put things in place.”

One of the iconic players of his generation, Pocock won the last of his 83 caps in 2019 and hopes to see Australia allay their traditional flair game with a streetwise edge at Twickenham on Saturday.

“We’ve got the players to be able to play really expansive rugby – and that is what a lot of Australian supporters want to see – but you have to be able to modify that, particularly when you are playing up here [in the northern hemisphere],” he added.

“I think we will start to see a smarter Wallabies team that can tailor their tactics a bit, but also bring that real sense of enjoyment and make it a real spectacle.”

Pocock was instrumental the last time Australia won at Twickenham – a resounding victory in 2015 that knocked the hosts out of their own World Cup – but since then the Wallabies have suffered a staggering seven straight defeats against Eddie Jones’ side.

“It’s a huge test, England at Twickenham,” Pocock said.

“The Aussies will be very disappointed after Scotland and will up their game, but England are such a great balance of physicality up front and real strike power.

“They aren’t really a team you can pigeon-hole. They punish you when you make mistakes.

“Twickenham is such a great place to play rugby, it is an amazing stadium and there is so much history there. It is something you always look forward to as a player and that 2015 World Cup was very memorable.”

‘Sport needs to be part of the solution’

A long-time environmental activist, Pocock was speaking to BBC Sport from the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

As well as attending a number of climate and sport workshops, the 33-year-old is working on a project regenerating rangelands and working with communities on more sustainable farming practices in his native Zimbabwe.

He says there has been “a huge societal shift” when it comes to environmental issues, and believes sport “is going to need to be part of the solution” going forward.

Of particular focus when it comes to rugby are the Pacific Islands, for so long rich rugby heartlands, but areas under acute threat from climate change.

“Your rich nations in rugby may be able to cope and find ways around it in the short to medium term, but the Pacific Islands have contributed so much to rugby and they are going be one of the hardest hit regions in the world,” Pocock warned.

“You are already seeing parts of Fiji where areas are becoming too salty to farm, more frequent cyclones [in the region] with frequency increasing and intensity increasing.

“It is going to become more disruptive to sport and on a human level, and places like the Pacific are really going to cop a lot of extreme weather as the oceans warm up.

“As a sport, we have to think about that and play our part. We are all hypocrites and we are part of this system that clearly isn’t working, so I think sport can be a really powerful way to engage fans.

“We are all in this together and it is going to take all of us to try and create some sort of future we can enjoy.”