Australia coach Robbie Deans has predicted "a ripper" of a contest when his Wallabies side meet England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Deans returned to London from the west country on Tuesday night after seeing his dirt-trackers defeat Gloucester 36-5 in front of a capacity 16,500 Kingsholm crowd.

Deans is due to name his starting line-up for the England Test on Thursday, but he is keeping selection plans a closely-guarded secret and said: "We will push on with our Test preparations now. Saturday's game is going to be a ripper."

Deans is likely to look at all options for a game that will see Australia targeting a fourth win in the last five Tests at England's expense.

As for Tuesday night's exercise, Deans added: "We would love to do it again - the blokes really enjoyed it.

"It was great for us to have the opportunity of rugby outside of a Test match.

"Gloucester played with a lot of spirit and asked quite a bit of our guys, but we finished strongly."

Despite fielding several fringe first-team players and only a handful of internationals, Gloucester nevertheless displayed character and commitment by the bucket-load.

Had they shown more composure in attack, then the game could have proved distinctly uncomfortable for a Wallabies outfit that faces another midweek outing against Cardiff Blues in three weeks' time.

"Our guys wanted to make the most of it," said Deans. "A lot of them are only going to play twice on tour. When you are going from Test match to Test match, you don't get the opportunity to give guys that development time on the field."