Conventional wisdom, in the northern hemisphere at least, has it that should England’s front-row perform their usual demolition job on the Australian scrum then a win at Twickenham today is assured.
When the Wallabies were last in London, in 2005, England’s Andrew Sheridan inflicted a huge beating upon Al Baxter, his front-row opponent again this weekend, and the Australian was sent to the sin-bin for collapsing the scrum.
Sheridan wrecked Australia’s scrum again during England’s 12-10 World Cup quarter-final win in Marseille last year.
PHOTO: AFP
Clearly if England achieve such set-piece dominance again they will be well on the way to victory.
And the fact manager Martin Johnson, who captained England to a World Cup final win over Australia in Sydney five years ago, has recalled grizzled prop Phil Vickery and selected lock Tom Palmer indicates the regard he has for the set-piece.
But, in the Tri-Nations, the Australia pack more than held its own during wins over New Zealand and world champions South Africa.
PHOTO: AFP
England, in their first outing under Johnson, beat the Pacific Islanders 39-13 at Twickenham last week in a match where they struggled at the scrum.
By contrast a back three featuring two debutants in full-back Delon Armitage and Ugo Monye, together with Paul Sackey, took every chance to run the ball and did so to good effect.
The youthful half-back combination of Danny Care and Danny Cipriani, also showed plenty of promise.
Cipriani, who saw a delayed clearance-kick punished by a charge-down try, only gave himself “six out of 10” for his performance last weekend, which suggests he doesn’t need anyone to tell him to tighten up his game against the Wallabies, particularly in defensive situations.
Australia, under their Kiwi coach Robbie Deans, have reverted to the side beaten 19-14 by New Zealand in Hong Kong this month save for Hugh McMeniman replacing Dean Mumm at blindside flanker.
Hardened from their Tri-Nations campaign, it is a team sprinkled with seasoned performers and one which will fancy its chances of improving an Australian run of four defeats in their last five Twickenham appearances.
And it is their form, rather than their record at “headquarters” which has caught the eye of England captain Steve Borthwick.
“I think it is quite clear Australia have improved immeasurably,” Borthwick, still to convince some observers about his Test credentials, said. “Their pack is strong and they have shown that by winning away in South Africa and beating New Zealand.”
Deans meanwhile was expecting a well-rounded if tough contest.
“You’ve got two sides who like to play with the shackles off. It won’t be a frivolous game but it should be a game that will have everything,” he said.
Victory for England this weekend will set them up nicely for the visits to Twickenham later this month of the Springboks and the All Blacks.
Were England to beat all three southern hemisphere giants, they would assure themselves of a top four seeding for next month’s 2011 World Cup draw and stay away from hosts New Zealand in the pool phase.
Johnson, for whom the phrase “hardened pro” might have been invented, was not concerned.
“We haven’t talked about the rankings this week and we won’t talk about them,” he said. “A world ranking is not what motivates players ahead of a Test match against a side as good as Australia.”
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS