Rugby: England lament loss of Cipriani

Danny Cipriani reportedly fell out with England coach Martin Johnson. Photo / Getty Images

The loss of Melbourne Rebels recruit Danny Cipriani is robbing England of their X-factor, and that could be telling against the Wallabies.

That's the view of many in the English media who are not buying the line that England's powerful scrum will be enough to get them home in the rugby Test at Twickenham on Saturday (Sunday morning NZT).

It may sound pessimistic but plenty are suggesting it won't matter if the Australian scrum is pulverised because the attacking genius of Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor will be too much anyway.

An easy week for the England scrum coach, it was suggested in the Times, but a tough one for defence boss Mike Ford.

Or a race between the hares and tortoises, said The Guardian.

England's centres Shontayne Hape and Mike Tindall, in particular, have come under fire as too slow and too similar.

"The midfield defensively does its job, but can you imagine Shontayne Hape or Mike Tindall doing what Matt Giteau of Adam Ashley-Cooper can do?" asked The Times.

And the lamentations over the loss of creative five-eighth Cipriani to southern hemisphere Super Rugby, after he reportedly fell out with coach Martin Johnson, have also been strong.

The Independent called the Rebels' signing England's "one authentically original talent".

Their concerns are supported by the outcome of last Saturday Test in cardiff.

Despite seven scrum penalties against the Wallabies, they still managed a 25-16 win over Wales, making three times the clean breaks and twice the metres.

The figures suggest they could get the job done without parity at scrum time.

"At the moment we are playing pretty expansive footy but I think that's because the guys in the middle, even though up front they're not winning the scrums, they're going forward with the ball so that's giving us lots of opportunity out wide," Wallabies winger James O'Connor said.

"I'm hoping for a pretty expansive game but it's going to be very physical."

Australia are wary of the tryscoring ability England showed in June's 21-20 win at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

"If there's a perception of England being a defensive side, certainly some of that didn't happen in the Test in Sydney," Australian winger Drew Mitchell said.

"They really took it to us and they showed that they can and they are capable of playing an attacking brand.

"They've got Toby Flood there at 10 who controls the game well and he's a very good decision-maker.

"Outside of that he's got guys who can really threaten the line, (Chris) Ashton and (Mark) Cueto, and Tindall's been around for a long time and he certainly provides a lot of go-forward as well."

- AAP