Match Preview: Wallabies vs England

[James]

England tests are a bit of a personal dilemma. On one hand, nothing beats the feeling of crushing them into submission. On the other, losing to England makes you sick to the bottom of your stomach and it's a feeling that doesn't soon go away. Pride has become a big factor in these tests as the last ten tests have seen major embarrassment to both sides. For Australia, not much more needs to be said than 2005 and 2007, but add in 2010 and the 1 point loss in Sydney for good measure. That was England's first win in Australia since 2003 in a game that was practically given to them.

For England, 2008 and 2009 have not only seen Australian wins at Twickenham but also games in which the Australian scrum was dominant. A shattered, down-hearted Andrew Sheridan hobbling off the field in 2008 brought tears of joy to my eyes. The Perth test in 2010 was also embarrassing for England as their defense was torn to shreds.

Building into 2011, there will be a lot riding on this test. Australia will be keen to make up for Sydney and move the winning streak onto three. England will want to show that they have the credentials to be a force in New Zealand next year and silence a few Johnson critics along the way.

How are they travelling?
Australia will be buoyed from last weekends victory over Wales. Hopefully, they will have got that ugly game out of their system. They didn't play with the same intensity or commitment as they did the week before against New Zealand and they will have learnt that there is no such thing as an easy test match. The whole team is in pretty good form, with possible exception to the Aussie front row. And Mark Chisholm.

I didn't catch the whole game but England looked to have put in a pretty good effort against New Zealand last week. A ten point loss is a step in the right direction for them. They had the kiwi scrum under a lot of pressure and New Zealand finished the game quite rattled. That game was one of the first times I have ever seen Carter kick a restart into touch. Prior to that test England's last were a loss to the NZ Maori side, a win in Sydney and a loss in Perth.

How are they going to win it?
For Australia it will all be about measured attack. The Aussie backs have dazzled in the last two games but they are going to need to show some much needed maturity for this one. This means no attacking out of our own twenty-two and not pushing 50/50 passes on attack. England lack attacking prowess in the backs and by minimizing our own errors we can keep them out of our territory and keep them out of possession. Like Wales last week, the their best chance of scoring a try will be from a 5m scrum so we have to make sure they can't get that close. Amongst our forwards, the whole eight will need to work together to minimize the penalty count against us in the scrums. Craig Joubert will be reffing this one and, as Al Baxter will attest, he is far from patient with Australia at scrum time.

Two key words will be coming out of the English camp: Defence and Discipline. For England to come out of this one on top, they need to be on their A game in both of these areas. As I've said, the Australian backs can and will attack from anywhere. If there are any holes, they will be exploited and the slightest hole will soon become a gaping crevasse with pressure. If the lumbering England forwards are working overtime to get around the field to make up for the backs it will dampen their effectiveness in their traditional strengths- the maul, the scrum and the pick and go. Shontayne Hape (Why ohh why with the ex-league converts?!) was shown up pretty badly last weekend and will need to pull it together on Saturday. As for discipline, since England will struggle to attack from range, they need to be as clinical as possible when they get into the Wallabies 22. One mistake will bring play right back to the 50.

The players who will make the difference
Mad Dog Lewis Moody will be a key player for England. He will need to put his body on the line in traditional fashion to slow down the Australian attack. Constant pressure on Quade Cooper will be a must too. If Moody plays well and leads the team from the front, England are in with a good chance. It doesn't really need to be said that the whole English front row will also be key.

If Steve Moore makes it back from his back injury, his combination with Ben Alexander will be vital to success for the Wallabies. Moore is a far better scrummager than Faingaa and his familiarity with Alexander should have a stabilizing effect. The the pair can at least limit the damage and keep the scrum penalty count under 6 we should be ok. This match will be a big test for Rocky Elsom as captain, too. How he rallies the Wallabies and copes with the pressure will be the decider in whether he is the right man for the job. David Pocock and Nathan Sharpe have been in red hot form in the pack and both have leadership credentials. Deans might want to listen to what people on TWF have been saying for the last year and promoting one of them.

The outcome
Although I hate to say it, I have the feeling England are going to win this one. It is very rare for Australia to win three tests in a row these days, particularly not with away tests. England played well last weekend and gained a lot of confidence in Sydney. They know our weaknesses and know how to exploit them. On the other hand, if Australia win, they will be a freight train from hell going straight up the ass of the competition in 2011 (Chazz Michael Michaels). Sorry sports fans, England by 4.

England team
Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Mark Cueto, Toby Flood, Ben Youngs, Andrew Sheridan, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Courtney Lawes, Tom Palmer, Tom Croft, Lewis Moody (capt), Nicke Easter.

Res: Steve Thompson, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, Hendre Fourie, Danny Care, Charlie Hodgson, Delon Armitage.

Australian team

1. Benn Robinson (NSW Waratahs)
2. Stephen Moore (Brumbies)
3. Ben Alexander (Brumbies)
4. Mark Chisholm (Brumbies)
5. Nathan Sharpe (Western Force)
6. Rocky Elsom (c) (Brumbies)
7. David Pocock (Western Force)
8. Ben McCalman (Western Force)

9. Will Genia (Queensland Reds)
10. Quade Cooper (Queensland Reds)
11. Drew Mitchell (NSW Waratahs)
12. Matt Giteau (Brumbies)
13. Adam Ashley-Cooper (Brumbies)
14. James O’Connor (Western Force)
15. Kurtley Beale (NSW Waratahs)

Reserves:
16. Huia Edmonds (Brumbies)
17. James Slipper (Queensland Reds)
18. Dean Mumm (NSW Waratahs)
19. Richard Brown (Western Force)
20. Luke Burgess (NSW Waratahs)
21. Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs)
22. Lachie Turner (NSW Waratahs)

Referee:
Craig Joubert (RSA)


Hello everyone. Next year I am going to be writing match reports for all of the Force home games (and probably the away ones too). I will try to do some pre-season player interviews in December too (PM me if you have any suggestions/preferences).

So I thought I'd limber up by doing a few match previews/reports for the Spring tour.

[Burgs]

Nice work James, except for the team list and verdict

[James]

Mate, I would sacrifice a toe for Australia to win. My partner is English and she doesn't know bugger all about rugby except that it really pisses me off when we lose to England. And boy does she rub it in.

[zimeric]

I disagree with the result.. and its with this statement really that defines my disagreement really "This means no attacking out of our own twenty-two"

This tactic in particular has hamstring our attack in recent years, looking back at the Sydney test it was our poor kicking in defence that let Englands re-invigorated backline get within striking distance for their pack to monster us... If we run it out it will stretch their defence and run their forwards off the park...
We need to run it and run it and run it... obviously this means our loose forwards will also have to lift yet another level to ensure the breakdowns are well covered...
Joubert may be tough on poor scrummaging but hes just as tough on incorrect entry and tackler not releasing (McCaw has finally been sussed by this guy) and this will work in our favour if the England loose forwards are lazy (we know Pocock/ McCalman are certainly not).. i say Aus win by 10+ particularly if we get a head of steam and score early.

[oxleymoron]

If I had to choose between losing to England this week or in next years RWC, i'd take this week.

[James]

I disagree with the result.. and its with this statement really that defines my disagreement really "This means no attacking out of our own twenty-two"

This tactic in particular has hamstring our attack in recent years, looking back at the Sydney test it was our poor kicking in defence that let Englands re-invigorated backline get within striking distance for their pack to monster us... If we run it out it will stretch their defence and run their forwards off the park...
We need to run it and run it and run it...

I would prefer England's backs to try and run it back at us than for us to knock the ball on and England have a scrum around our 22. Besides, send a good enough kick over the touch line and the England backs won't have the opportunity to counter-attack. Or make sure you've got your chasers putting in the hard yards to make sure they don't get much territory.

Perhaps rather than saying 'no attacking' I should have said 'discretionary attacking'. Sometimes our backs are far too cavalier in our own 22 and sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. You make a good point about running their forwards off the park but I'd say that comes at the risk of keeping them in the game.

[zimeric]

yeah a fair assessment but i still think were better at running it at them than we are a) kicking for touch b) kicking and chasing (although Beale pulled of a miracle one last week )

[Hansie]

Imagine you are Martin Johnson, what will your game plan be? I think it will be as follows:

Play the game inside the Wallabies half, force the turnover or scrum, maybe even create your own deliberate mistake and give the scrum feed to Australia. Win the penalty - 3 pts. Play 10 man rugby

The Sydney game was 6 months ago, Wallabies had just beaten England in Perth and did not have the same level of maturity and confidence in their own abilities as they do now. Plus Giteau missed a sitter.

We can run the Pommy Piggies (PP) around the paddock - we have the cattle to do that, we can concede a few scrums and penalties in the first 60, we can bring on James Slipper, hold our own in the scrums for the last 20 and win by 8.

Genia and Cooper will outpoint Toby Flood and Ben Youngs, the inside and outside backs for England will have to cut down time and space for ours to get going, but then what about the chip and chase, long cut-out passes left or right?? Cooper is the only weak link in defence. In the forwards, it will be great to see Moody and Pocock go head to head, Macalman is growing and will keep Brownie on the bench for 2011 Force season, Rocky can stop snarling. Sharpie has to step up in the scrums, great ball carrier always takes 3 guys out of the game, Mumm should start in place of Chisolm ( Oh where is Horwill??? get your knee fixed). Only in scrum time will our front three be dominated, but I'd still have them around the park ahead of the PP's

Twickenham and Swing Low Sweet Chariot will always give the Poms a 10 point start. Now adays it takes a good 5 - 10 mins before the first scrum is set. Rocky should lose the toss, elect to recieve and for the next 10 mins keep the ball in play, work it up field, run the PP's around and score.

[GIGS20]

yeah a fair assessment but i still think were better at running it at them than we are a) kicking for touch b) kicking and chasing (although Beale pulled of a miracle one last week )

I agree with both of you. We need to be judicious in our kicking, but also not afraid to lay with width when it's on. We will want to run those fat pommy forwards around as much as we can, and that will mean expoliting both sides of the field from anywhere ON the field. I only worry that we have a bit of a tendency to overplay our hand in those times. This usually results in somebody running into isolation and can be ugly for us. I think we need to have better vision, an ability to identify when the run is on, and when the kick is required. At the moment, that all seems a bit mechanistic and we have vast swathes of time where it's all frenetic running, cotrasted with vast swathes of time where it's kick it away at all costs......if we mix it up a bit, we'll be pretty close to unstoppable!

[BeeJay]

'discretionary attacking'

That is really the key. At times running it out of the 22 for 2 or 3 phases gains 30 metres, and then if its appropriate to kick for the corner, so be it.

I saw the Leicester game on TV, and apart from being impressed with Hodgo and Slipper, Simmons really shone for me. He snaffled a couple of lineouts and his defense and play in the loose was very good. I'd like to see him given a chance with Mummsy on the bench. Hodgo deserves to get a spot on the bench over Browny I'm afraid to say...

[Burgs]

...Plus Giteau missed a sitter...

You didn't even have to research that bit did you?
Just assume it for any of his last twenty matches as kicker...

[Burgs]

Commendation for the revised team list James, looks so much better

[James]

I think that was Coach's handywork. I'll take credit for it though .