Moore set for lineout title fight
Wayne Smith | July 12, 2008

THE Wallabies could get the jump on the Springboks in more ways than one in Perth next weekend, with hooker Stephen Moore predicting the Tri-Nations Test will determine which team has the world's best lineout.

Statistically, Australia emerged from last year's World Cup with the best lineout figures, winning 92 per cent of its own ball and stealing 35 per cent of opposition throws.

Nominally the All Blacks (92-31) edged out the Boks (89-32) for second ranking but neither Australia nor New Zealand was subjected to the scrutiny of even a World Cup semi-final, let alone the final, in which South Africa defeated England 15-6.

The All Blacks might have taken the honours from the world champions in the Tri-Nations opener in Wellington last weekend but the Boks gained both a real and a psychological advantage over them in the lineout.

The All Blacks repeatedly kicked infield to avoid presenting the Boks with a launch platform for their attack, a tacit concession they were no match at lineout time for Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and the towering South African backrow. Starved of their own throws, however, the Boks eventually picked the lock of the All Black lineout, stealing four of their seven second-half throws.

It was a performance that would have put the Wallabies' lineout on full alert, not that the Australian forwards should have needed any reminding of the threat posed by South Africa, especially at Subiaco Oval.

Of the four Mandela Plate Tests played there, the Wallabies have won only one, and even then they had to rely on a last-gasp try from South African-born winger Clyde Rathbone to steal the 2004 decision 30-26.

"This is the perfect yardstick to decide things like the world's best lineout," admitted Moore, who has not been guilty of a single crooked throw in three Tests this season, coming on top of a clean 2007 World Cup campaign.

Precisely who Moore will be throwing to will not be determined until coach Robbie Deans and his fellow selectors evaluate how well Dan Vickerman comes through his first outing since the Super 14 final when he turns out today for Sydney University.

But as keen as a they would be to pit their top jumper against Matfield, there is no crying necessity for him to be rushed back prematurely.

Nathan Sharpe and James Horwill, ably backed by Rocky Elsom, dominated the sideline set pieces in the first two domestic Tests. Even when Australia was forced to rely on two specialist blindside flankers playing in the second row in the second half against France last weekend in Brisbane, the Wallabies actually lifted their defensive lineout stats, to the point where the season success rate is riding high at 95 per cent.

But even if the old firm of Sharpe and Vickerman is broken up, the two veterans will continue to plot Australia's lineout tactics.

"It definitely gives me confidence throwing to those two guys but even more so I have confidence in the plan they're going to take into the game. They talk a lot about what we're going to do in the lineouts," Moore said.

As useful as the Ireland Test and the two subsequent internationals against France were in helping to bed down the Deans pattern of play, the Wallabies are under no illusions that the Tri-Nations will represent a quantum leap in terms of intensity and physicality.

"Once the full-time whistle sounded against France last weekend, the focus instantly shifted to the Springboks," Moore said. "It was brutal the way the Boks and the All Blacks went at each other in Wellington. We haven't stopped talking about it."

Meanwhile, openside flankers yet again have dominated the Super 14 provincial players' player awards, with George Smith a runaway winner of the Brett Robinson award for the sixth successive year at the Brumbies and David Croft finishing his Queensland career on a high by claiming the Reds' award, named in honour of Stan Pilecki, for the second year in a row.

Smith polled 353 votes, 199 ahead of his nearest rival, fullback Mark Gerrard while another fullback Chris Latham made light of the fact that he missed half the Reds season of injury by claiming 167 votes to finish runner-up to Croft (195).

Centre Ryan Cross, however, struck a blow for the backs when he won the Western Force Player of the Year Award on a countback from backrower Scott Fava and winger Drew Mitchell.

Moore set for lineout title fight | The Australian