Pride put on line in battle

By Brett Harris
April 12, 2008 DAN Vickerman and Nathan Sharpe are the odd couple of the Australia lineout. Both know how to organise a lineout but do it in different ways.
"Vickerman is incredibly pragmatic, while Sharpe is a lateral thinker," Wallabies forwards coach Michael Foley said.

"When they work together it is very interesting. Vickerman will say 'if we use these three lineout calls, we are guaranteed to win the ball'. Sharpe will come up with crazy, left-field ideas to keep the opposition guessing.

"It gives Australia something quite different to other countries.

"Most international lineouts are run by one guy like Victor Matfield with South Africa, but Australia has two very different points of view and when you put them together the result is very good."

Vickerman and Sharpe will pit their contrasting styles against each other in the match between New South Wales and Western Force in Perth.

Most observers believe the Vickerman-Sharpe contest in the lineout will be pivotal in a game which will feature several intriguing head-to-head clashes.

Vickerman has taken 28 Waratahs throws this season and is the leading Australian in steals, pinching 10 opposition balls.

Sharpe's statistics are also impressive, taking 22 Force throws and stealing two. But their real impact is how much damage they do to the opposition ball, making it unplayable.

"Vickerman and Sharpe don't just try to steal the ball, they work hard to spoil it," Foley said.

"They will fight and fight and fight until the No.10 has the ball in his hands. They have to keep it simple and hold their technique and maybe vary it a little bit to keep the opposition guessing."

Vickerman and Sharpe, who have formed the Wallabies' world-class second-row combination for the past four years, know each other's games inside out.

"I know how Sharpie plays and I'm sure he knows how I play," Vickerman said. "You are always looking to improve and make things better.

"He has been playing some good rugby this year. It will be good to see where we are at playing against a bloke of his calibre. You do know how guys play. There are always little improvements that guys are making. At the Force, he has been doing some fantastic things. He is playing well and improving every week."

Vickerman is acutely aware of how important the battle in the lineout will be.

"The lineout, as well as the scrum, is one of the best facets to attack off," Vickerman said.

"The game is pretty unpredictable. Certain teams play looser styles of games. If you can do well at your set piece, it goes a long way to getting you on the front foot, especially if you can disrupt their ball, too."

While Vickerman and Sharpe are both dominant lineout forwards, they play different types of game in general as well.

Vickerman is highly physical in tight, winning the collisions, while Sharpe is a mobile ball-runner and skilful distributor.

"I'm a pretty simple player. There is nothing too flamboyant or flash about what I do," Vickerman said. "He's got the wood on me there. He does a lot of things in the loose and a lot of things that help the team go forward.

"It will be hard marking him on the weekend. But it's good to play against the best blokes in their position.

"Sharpie has been one of the premier locks in the world for a fair while.

"It's going to be a good contest and I'm looking forward to the challenge, but their whole team has been playing some pretty good football. It's not only one contest. It's a number of match-ups in the game.

"I'm looking forward to it. It should be good fun."

The Waratahs pack will be looking to take on the Force up front in the same way it did in the big win against the Blues in Sydney last weekend.

"I don't know if we overpowered them (the Blues)," Vickerman said. "We had a lot of possession. They are a pretty physical pack of forwards. Every New Zealand side is.

"The Force are extremely strong. We saw them beat the Blues at home. They beat the Highlanders in New Zealand.

"They won two from three in South Africa and those guys are all pretty physical forward packs, and they've done extremely well in those games.

"We are going to have to be on our game, otherwise we'll get heavily exposed and that's definitely something we have not come over here to do."

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html