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Wayne Smith | June 04, 2009
Article from: The Australian
WALLABIES veteran Nathan Sharpe believes Western Force teammate Matt Hodgson is the concealed weapon in the Australian pack for Saturday's clash with the Barbarians at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Blindside flankers at international level tend to be imposing, rampaging figures, as intimidating on the ball-carry as any player in the side and a genuine third jumping option in the lineout: in short, a Rocky Elsom type.
But in Sharpe's opinion, the IRB's recent modified interpretation of what is allowable at the breakdown opens the door to a player like Hodgson.
"He's one of the shortest guys in the pack (just 4cm taller than openside flanker George Smith) but he is a little sawn-off shotgun," Sharpe said yesterday.
Sharpe might boast 74 Test caps to Hodgson's none, but he felt no need to give the 27-year-old a heads-up on what to expect.
"No, he's one of those guys who adapts to anything that comes his way," Sharpe said.
"He's a real tough character. He turns up, understands what he has to do and gets the job done."
With Elsom in the opposition Barbarians ranks, Dean Mumm being used off the bench and Hugh McMeniman out for the season with an ankle injury, the Wallabies will be going into this campaign opener with Sharpe and James Horwill only as front-line jumpers, supplemented by Hodgson and No8 Richard Brown.
But Sharpe, who will be calling the lineouts on Saturday as he did for the Force through the Super 14, insists he will have no hesitation in naming one of the backrowers as the target if that is the surest option.
"No dramas at all," he said.
"Hodgson is a genuine threat now in the lineout and it's a credit to him because he has worked hard on that part of his game."
As with the scrum, the Wallabies forwards will take ownership of the lineouts now they no longer have specialist coach Michael Foley to guide them but, again, Sharpe has no problems with that.
"Jim Williams is there co-ordinating everything, but at the end of the day you want players to take ownership at training because the coaches aren't the ones making decisions under pressure on the field," Sharpe said.
As of Saturday, the pressure will be doubled on the decision makers at lineout time because this will be the first match the Wallabies will play under the rules that outlaw pulling down of the rolling maul.
Tactically, that means a lineout ball the Wallabies win in the opposition red zone, or concede in their own, is likely to be tucked away at the back of a rolling maul, where it will be near impossible to get at by legal means.
This is not a facet of the game that has been traditionally a
Wallabies strength, but Sharpe believes coach Robbie Deans and his fellow selectors have chosen a pack to negate the opposition's rolling maul and to turn it into a real asset for the Wallabies when they use it themselves.
"We've got a very strong, low-centre of gravity team and that makes it a lot easier for us to keep our body height low naturally," Sharpe said.
"If we do the rolling maul right, it's a very dangerous weapon, so it will be interesting to see how it unfolds."
He believes the Wallabies' low centre of gravity will emerge as a dominant feature of the side, not only in the rolling maul but at the breakdown, providing Australia with a genuine counter to the flashy impact players other teams might boast.
"There are different types of impact players," he said.
"Having the guys we have provides us with a different type of impact."
Sharpe missed the Wallabies' end-of-year match with the Barbarians at Wembley because of a broken thumb and is eagerly anticipating his very first meeting with the famous "United Nations" team.
That said, he won't be doing a lot of homework on them.
"You can't really analyse the Barbarians because they change (personnel) so much," he said.
"You know how they're going to play, with an attacking style, but if you start worrying too much you'll just get left behind. We're just looking at our strategy on our own ball, both lineout and scrum, and starter plays.
"This is a full-scale workout, no doubt about that. We want to get this Test season running as hard as we can. This will be a Test match for us."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html
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Originally Posted by Flamethrower
