Wallaby coach Eddie Jones has begun the word games ahead of the showdown with England, proclaiming Clive Woodward's side are still the best side in the world despite defeat against Ireland.

"They are one of the best attacking sides in world rugby and their loss against Ireland doesn't take away from the fact that they are the best performing side in world rugby over the last 12 months," said Jones as he prepared to put the Australians through the first training session of their European tour at London's Imperial College.

"The stats showed that Ireland won the game but England still did a lot of things right. England are one of the form teams in the world.

"They have great individuals and a good structure. They are co-ordinated and coherent and there are a number of areas in their game which we are worried about.

"Against Ireland, England started confidently, moving the ball from side to side but things went Ireland's way. They did things well and got the flow of the game and it is very hard to wrest that from a side playing at home. It is a result we don't put much store by for our own game with England."

Jones also promised an exciting brand of rugby on their tour after a relatively dull Tri Nations series in the summer.

"The rugby game has been pretty down in that time," said Jones. "The average number of points in the Tri-Nations has gone down from 35 to 20 and there have been heavy penalty counts.

"We're looking to play positive rugby. The level of play in internationals has not been what it ought to be. We must encourage attacking rugby and not be defensive. Defence is always important but now defence is dominating.

"We want to be at the forefront of changing the way the game is played. I'm really looking forward to the tour. I'm a great admirer of England. They have created an attacking structure which is very clever and it is a great challenge for us."

England's clash with the World Champions on November 10 will be their first meeting since Clive Woodward's side triumphed in injury time at Twickenham a year ago.

Since then Australia, the world champions, have beaten the British and Irish Lions in the summer series, and retained their Tri-Nations crown. They begin their tour against an English National Division XV at Leicester on Saturday before playing a midweek Test against Spain in Madrid.