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Pocock out to chew on England's mad dog
NICK TAYLOR, The West Australian June 12, 2010, 8:23 am
Getty Images / David Rogers ©
Western Force flanker David Pocock will be taking on a "mad dog" when Australia battle for the Cook Cup in tonight's Test against England at Subiaco Oval.
England captain Lewis Moody does not carry the nickname without good reason. He is one of the most passionate, fearless and confrontational players in world rugby.
But Pocock is not exactly a shy butterfly when it comes to shuddering collisions, either, and he is relishing the task.
"They get their go forward and inspiration from the guy who's very high energy, very high work rate," Pocock said.
"We're expecting a pretty busy day and the first 20 minutes will set the tone at the breakdown for both sides."
Australia have bad memories of the 61-Test veteran. His lineout take in the 2003 World Cup final eventually led to Jonny Wilkinson's famous drop-goal winner and Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom gave an understated warning about the England warrior.
"He's probably going to be an issue we need to address," he said. "They can get a lot of inspiration out of him.
"When we played them last year he did that for them. He got them on the front foot and had little injections that were telling."
Force captain Nathan Sharpe is four games short of John Eales' record of 84 Tests as Australia's most-capped second-rower.
He will be joined in the run-on side by Force teammate and full-back James O'Connor, who takes over the kicking duties following yesterday's withdrawal of Matt Giteau.
All three first-choice Force backrowers are in the squad with Pocock and Richard Brown starting and Matt Hodgson on the bench.
Wallabies management was not surprised by the loss of Giteau. It was known the playmaker was carrying a hip injury and did not finish Thursday's training session.
Elsom said it would not affect the side nor their style of play as Berrick Barnes had been training for the move off the bench.
"You wouldn't say it's ideal but the way we train … is very much a squad focus so that guys can slot in and out," he said. "Berrick's no slouch."
England are expected to bully the Wallabies up front with Moody leading the way at the breakdown, but Elsom said his side would cope with whatever came their way.
"They have a strong focus on their set piece and that has been a key element in all the games that we've played against them," he said.
"It's the same as every Test. There's always big battles in the set piece. This is no different.
"The guys can feel pretty comfortable with what's coming up. The idea of the systems we run in practice are that we are going to be able to deal with whatever they throw at us.
"There's only so much we can prepare for. It's always more important to focus on yourself. You can waste a lot of time worrying how they play."
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. But the English have a better front row; the Wallabies the better back row. The Wallabies also have a much better set of backs. They need to avoid getting bogged down in set-pieces.
