48 Hours: Scrum and coach on back foot

Wanted: a couple of stocky young blokes to prop Wallaby scrum. Experience preferred but not essential. Must have own medical insurance, pre-written note to next-of-kin, and be able to start immediately.

It's difficult to think of a more desperate time for Australian rugby.

Seven losses on the stretch, daily demands for the heads of coach Eddie Jones and George Gregan, and a scrum so poor that it was last seen backpedalling out of Twickenham and tumbling down Whitton Rd.

Seldom in the annals of televised rugby has a top-drawer team been humiliated as Australia were yesterday morning, when their scrum either folded like a concertina or went backwards faster than an Italian tank.

The only reason the margin of defeat wasn't greater was that England were only marginally better around the park, and took until the 75th minute to fully exploit their enormous advantage up front.

How bad was the Aussie front row? Bad enough for referee Joel Jutge to order de-powered scrums for the final 10 minutes after the sin-binning of prop Al Baxter (for repeated collapsing), and the stretchering off of team-mate Matt Dunning only moments later.

To be fair, you could see the day coming when the sky was going to fall for the Wallaby tight-five.

It could easily have been in Paris last week but for New Zealand referee Paul Honiss, who effectively negated the French advantage at scrum-time by penalising both teams throughout.

As a scrum arbitrator, Jutge was far more decisive yesterday, repeatedly singling out the Wallabies for infringements, and presenting England with what should have been an unequivocal edge.

As it was, it took the hosts an eternity to make the most of their forward superiority, and there were some head-shaking moments for coach Andy Robinson before the conclusive break was made.

England mightn't be the same force as they were at the last World Cup, but their game-plan hasn't altered much over the past couple of years and little is likely to change when they square off against the All Blacks next weekend.

If yesterday's effort was any guide, the English will try to turn set-piece parity into good field position, from where they will try to pressure and niggle their opponents into making mistakes and conceding penalties - especially at the breakdown.

We saw it in the second test against the Lions and it's almost certain to re-emerge next Sunday morning, when players such as Danny Grewcock, Lewis Moody, Steve Thompson and halfback Matt Dawson will set out to challenge New Zealand's patience and composure.

Grewcock was reasonably restrained against the Australians but has a dire record against New Zealand, Thompson lived on the wrong side of the ruck for most of the game, and Moody should have conceded a penalty try in the first half, along with his yellow card.

For all that, England will take no small measure of confidence from the win and will find better cohesion next weekend, when all eyes will be on the battle for superiority in the front row.

Hulking loosehead prop Andy Sheridan, hooker Thompson and tighthead prop Phil Vickery seem set to give the All Black scrum its sternest test of the tour.

Where Australia will go from here is anyone's guess, but Jones is already calling for his organisation to establish a scrummaging school in Britain or Europe in order to tutor students in the dark arts.

He might want to enrol Baxter and Dunning for retraining.

 

Highs and Lows

High: The Knights 3-nil loss to the Perth Glory early on Saturday morning (NZ time). Normally this would rate as a low point, but in the interests of being positive we're dressing it up as good news.

Low: The Kiwis. Just when we thought they'd turned the corner, they trip on a banana skin called Great Britain and lose 38-12. Hold on to your tickets, punters.