Rugby: Elsom warns England will be tougher

Will Genia has won the respect of English coach Martin Johnson. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY: Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom has challenged his team to improve in the belief opponents England will be a tougher challenge in tonight's second Cook Cup test.

Australia beat the tourists 27-17 in Perth last weekend despite England's forwards smashing the Wallabies scrum, resulting in two penalty tries as the referee lost patience with the Australians.

Coach Robbie Deans has stuck with the same forward pack for tonight's match at ANZ Stadium and Elsom has put his players on notice that if England's scrum dominate again, the result could be very different.

"It certainly doesn't help," he said when asked if Australia would be able to get away with another sub-par scrummaging display.

"I think [England] are probably going to look to change things up.

"Even though last week we managed to get on top of them, there were parts of their game they wouldn't have been happy with.

"I'd imagine there'd be some differences ... they haven't come here to lose."

One change Elsom and the Australians had expected was the addition of 2003 World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson to the England starting XV. But much to Elsom's surprise, coach Martin Johnson has kept Wilkinson on the bench.

"They probably know their system more than us but yeah, we definitely expected that," he said.

While inexperienced front-row trio Salesi Ma'afu, Saia Faingaa and Ben Daley copped most of the criticism for the scrum problems in Perth, Elsom said the responsibility lay with the entire pack.

And he said despite the trio sharing a combined total of just five caps, they had handled the criticism well during the week.

"I think that there's been a lot of pressure put on them and they've responded pretty well.

"When you're scrummaging it's all eight. As much as the focus gets directed at them they either get a hell of a lot of support from behind or they don't get it.

"We're seeing it as a whole eight thing," Elsom said.

"It's about the combinations and how they work together, I think that was the key.

"You look at the guys there, we've got some good scrummagers, Salesi has been one of the best ... in the Super 14.

"It's just about working together and that combination sometimes takes time."

Johnson predicts Wilkinson will still play a big part off the bench against the Wallabies. It will be the talismanic back's first return to the venue since his drop-goal won the 2003 World Cup.

Johnson, Wilkinson's 2003 captain, has stuck with Toby Flood at five-eighths and is unrepentant about the decision despite criticism from some quarters including ex-Wallaby Tim Horan.

The England coach said recalled Wallabies backs Matt Giteau and Will Genia were obviously world class players, but he thought the men they were replacing, Berrick Barnes and Luke Burgess respectively, performed very well last week.

AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND
Sydney, 9.55 tonight

AUSTRALIA
James O'Connor
Digby Ioane
Rob Horne
Matt Giteau
Drew Mitchell
Quade Cooper
Will Genia
Richard Brown
David Pocock
Rocky Elsom (c)
Nathan Sharpe
Dean Mumm
Salesi Ma'afu
Saia Faingaa
Ben Daley
Reserves: Huia Edmonds, James Slipper, Mark Chisholm, Matt Hodgson, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Adam Ashley-Cooper.

ENGLAND
Ben Foden
Mark Cueto
Mike Tindall
Shontayne Hape
Chris Ashton
Toby Flood
Ben Youngs
Tim Payne
S Thompson
Dan Cole
Courtney Lawes
Tom Palmer
Tom Croft
Lewis Moody (c)
Nick Easter
Reserves: George Chuter, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, James Haskell, Danny Care, Jonny Wilkinson, Delon Armitage.

- AAP