By 'The Mole'
November 9 2010

England v Australia - Investec Internationals 2010 - Cook Cup Match Thoughts Preview

Where do England go from here?

So, first one down, no too bad, some positive bits and a definite step on from last season AI’s, but many people believe that England need to kick on and win the 3 remaining games to make themselves credible challengers in NZ in 12 months time, and what better way to do this than making it 2 from 2 against the Wallabies this year!

Looking at the relative strengths and weaknesses it is a bit too easy to say ‘English power v Aussie skills’, but there is still a big chunk of realism in this ‘not-so-old wives tale’.

England's Ben Foden - Picture Empics

We can be pretty confident that he scrum will be a dominant force for England and this will be a great way to keep the aussie back row interested, hopefully allowing Youngs to create problems from the breakdown area. They have begun to integrate some real young talent into the squad with the likes of Lawes, Hartley, Youngs and Foden and it was really positive to see the Attwood replace Palmer and not the more junior partner in Lawes, maybe this shows that MJ is beginning to trust some of these guys.

England have clearly moved on from an attacking standpoint and now have much more variation to the game and If they can balance out the desire for Foden, Ashton and Youngs to run at every opportunity, with good game management by the likes of Easter, Flood and Cueto, then England could be in with a good shout of achieving 3 wins.

Weakness? They key one for me is the centre pairing.

Mike Tindall - Picture Empics

Tindall looked out of place in the test arena last week and you could certainly see a lack of trust defensively from those around him. He and Hape do not offer enough as a pairing as they lack real gas in the 13 channel and this is something that Australia will try and attack with every scrap of ball they get

And what about Australia?

Well in my view they have the most talented backs ‘squad’ around. When you look at what happens with most teams when they get a couple of injuries in key creative positions they struggle to fill the gap, but not Australia

Cooper injured? Bring in Giteau. Giteau out of form? Bring in Barnes, Digby Ioane out? Move Ashley Cooper in from fullback and watch him cut the AB’s to ribbons – problem solved.

In Genia and Cooper they have the best halfback combination of any team going forward, and then they have James O’Connor. He is 20 and a bit and already has 25 caps, played in 4 different positions at international level and kicks pressure goals in the Bledisloe Cup – he is quite good.

However, they still struggle massively in the forward, especially the tight five. Benn Robinson was seen as the great front row hope of Australia, and he does his job at scrum time, but if only one third of your engine is working, your car won’t go anywhere. Nathan Sharpe has been Australia’s most consistent performer, but would you swap him for Lawes, Attwood, Palmer or Parling? Not sure I would. Due to this paucity of talent, it certainly goes someway to negating what could be a finely balanced back row of Elsom, Pocock and McCalman.

So, where will it be won and lost?

If England can maintain their recent forward dominance and continue to build momentum in their attacking ability, I can see England winning by a decent margin. The lineout needs to hit top gear from the off and Tindall has to up his game and cope with the likes of Ashley Cooper and Beale attacking his channel at pace.

If Australia get decent lineout ball and their back row get some momentum going, then it could be a tough day for Moody and co.

Prediction? England to win by 7

England: B Foden (Northampton); C Ashton (Northampton), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), M Cueto (Sale); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Bath, capt), N Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: S Thompson (Leeds), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), H Fourie (Leeds), D Care (Harlequins), C Hodgson (Sale), D Armitage (London Irish).