In the past 20 years England have played the Wallabies seven times in Australia and won only twice, both in 2003 and of course one of those achieved rugby supremacy at the RWC.
History is against our kith and kin from ‘Ye Olde Dart’ this Saturday in Perthampton-on-Sea; however, I believe on this occasion they’ll be presented with their best opportunity in years.
For the Wallabies, I’m afraid it could be back to the dark old days of front row infamy. Here we go, here we go, here we go….into the turf.
The England rosbifs of Tim Payne (loosehead), Steve Thompson and Dan Cole (tighthead) have a total of 80 test caps amongst them. The Wallabies front row will be turning up with the princely sum of two.
Our excuse is that the top five front rowers are injured. We forget that England have four of theirs out as well: Andy Sheridan, Phil Vickery, Matt Mullan and Dylan Hartley, who would all be on this tour if fit.
It ain’t half hot mum in those scrums….and mauls….and breakdowns, where they’ll use their bulk and superior technique to wear us down. Who was it that said test matches are won and lost in the forwards? Like the Boks, they’ll want to use their physicality to dominate and control.
The good news is that there’s only a limited number of scrums in a game but I’d be pleasantly surprised if you can’t kiss goodbye any clean possession from the back of ours, not forgetting the resultant penalties, turnovers and psychological advantage when you control this beast.
To be fair, it’s difficult when your capacity to select is restricted to only four professional clubs, not 12 like the Guinness Premiership and notwithstanding players domiciled in the French Top 14 or other Home Union competitions.
However, I reckon it’s the breakdown where these guys will come into their own and if we don’t commit enough bodies into the fray we’ll have Shaw, Thompson, Easter and co ‘ploughing’ through, over or perhaps around us at the edges.
31 year old captain Lewis Moody is at his peak having come off an outstanding Guinness Premiership Final win for Leicester. He’s aggressive, disruptive, a great linkman between forwards and backs and possesses a demon workrate. A bloke to watch.
For those seeking some sort of retribution for RWC 2003, I’m afraid the great man himself is sitting on the bench where he was demoted for the last Five Nations match against France.
That’s not to say Wilko won’t be sending a few ‘droppies’ down in the dying stages of the match, which of course is his forte….
The workmanlike Tobias Gerald Albert Lieven Flood will be controlling England’s proceedings at flyhalf and I’ve always liked scrumhalf Danny Care because he’s such a twinkle toed goer.
The interesting selection is former NZ mungo Shontayne (why would you call your kid a stupid name like that Zinzan?) Hape, who partners with the evergreen Mike ‘Zara’ Tindall.
Hape was in the England setup earlier in the year and probably would already have a cap or two if it wasn’t for injury. He wouldn’t have been unhappy with his form for Bath.
Fullback Ben Foden, a former scrumhalf, is as zippy as Care and has similar traits to Peter Hynes i.e. his first instinct is to attack.
Winger Chris Ashton is a mungo flyer from Wigan and the current England player of the year. He’s had an outstanding season at Northampton.
If you think it’ll be England forwards v Wallaby backs – think again. There are 12 changes to the 22 from when we last played them, including five in the backline (see below).
There are some direct runners amongst their princesses and I think they’re capable of causing us some grief if they’re operating from a platform that’s going forward.
Yeah, the Wallabies might be ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ but I reckon the Poms are seasoned, primed and ‘Wont Get Fooled Again’……
Lance says: England by 5
England:
15 B Foden (Northampton), 14 M Cueto (Sale Sharks), 13 M Tindall (Gloucester), 12 S Hape (Bath), 11 C Ashton (Northampton), 10 T Flood (Leicester), 9 D Care (Harlequins), 1 T Payne (Wasps), 2 S Thompson (Brive), 3 D Cole (Leicester), 4 S Shaw (Wasps), 5 T Palmer (Stade Francais), 6 Tom Croft (Leicester), 7 L Moody (Leicester – Captain), 8 N Easter (Harlequins)
Reserves: 16 G Chuter (Leicester), 17 D Wilson (Bath), 18 C Lawes (Northampton), 19 J Haskell (Stade Francais), 20 B Youngs (Leicester), 21 J Wilkinson (Toulon), 22 M Tait (Sale Sharks).
England v Australia (7 November 2009)
15 Ugo Monye, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Steve Borthwick (Captain), 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dave Wilson, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.
Reserves: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Ayoola Erinle.
