Mystery men concern Mortlock
Mystery men concern Mortlock
November 13, 2008
RESPECT for the unknown, rather than any fear of England's front-row destroyers, has the Wallabies on high alert ahead of Saturday's rugby Test against England at Twickenham.
While the England pack features the usual hard nuts like seasoned props Phil Vickery and Andy Sheridan, it is a backline featuring a host of Test novices that has captured the Australian team's attention.
"There's a lot of fresh faces in this England team that we haven't seen too much of. That adds to the spice of this game," Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock said.
"They are a fresh combination with a fresh approach. That's going to make it a real interesting game of rugby on the weekend."
The English, with exciting young flyhalf Danny Cipriani at the fore with a 19-point haul in only his second Test, racked up five tries in last Saturday's 39-13 dismissal of the Pacific Islands, including one rare long-range strike from inside their own quarter.
While much of the focus this week has been on the great scrum battle, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is predicting some frenetic attack from the rival backlines.
"Both sides will feel each other out, but both sides will be bold at some point, given that neither will want to walk off the ground without a result," Deans said.
"So there'll be a bit of pushing and pulling, a bit of feeling out each other because there's a fair amount of uncertainty and of unknown in terms of how each side will approach the game.
"There will be some strategies that we haven't seen, in terms of trying to find avenues to succeed.
"And that itself, given that you've got two (lots of) coaching staff that are pretty fresh. And I think you'll see that both sides are prepared to take the shackles off in order to get what they seek.
"So there's a lot of unknowns in there. But you won't see a frivolous game. You'll see a game that's very likely to have everything."
England's back division has five international greenhorns with a total of 10 Test caps between them.
"I don't know a lot of background in terms of England," Deans admitted.
"But that means we will prioritise what we do and put an emphasis on that and concentrate on that, and possibly that's an advantage.
"Sometimes you can get distracted from what you believe will be coming the other way. Because of course both sides are second guessing each other.
"So perhaps without having the second guessing will bring a bit more clarity."
Either way, the Wallabies are up for the occasion.
"It's a great opportunity," Deans said. "A great opportunity for this group to get a rugby experience. That will be rewarding in itself.
"Quite apart from what we'll take out of it and take forward, it's one of the great destinations.
"And it will be a test because England at Twickenham is one of the ultimate rugby experiences and something this group is really excited about.
"For a lot of them, it will be their first instance in that cauldron. They can't wait."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
EDIT- Great. So we fear the poms we know, and the ones we don't know. What about the one's in the middle? Do we fear them too?
How about the poms fear US instead?
