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MARSEILLE - Australia's Matt Dunning has three words for scrum-hungry England hooker Mark Regan before their rugby World Cup quarterfinal on Sunday morning (NZT): Bring it on.
Regan has said defending champions England want to pack as many scrums as possible at Stade Velodrome in a bid to repeat their 2005 Twickenham demolition job of the Wallabies.
An unfazed Dunning relished the invitation.
"If England want to knock the ball on all day then I'm happy with that," the 119kg loosehead prop said.
"They will be ready to scrum and maul and I think it will be a very good contest."
Dunning's comments show the developing Wallabies pack cannnot wait to test themselves against arguably the best scrum in the world.
The English eight, who took the highly-fancied South African scrum apart in Paris three weeks ago, are rated as strong, if not better than the All Blacks.
Their reputation for technical expertise and power, highlighted by their efforts against Australia at home two years ago, was built a lot longer ago than New Zealand's more recent focus on the scrum.
The England pack's most celebrated test since the 2003 World Cup final triumph was the 26-16 win at Twickenham when Dunning was hospitalised with feared spinal damage after fellow prop Al Baxter was sinbinned for collapsing a scrum.
Coach Brian Ashton has not pulled any punches by indicating he will attack the Australians up front again by returning feisty veteran Regan and skipper Phil Vickery to his front row and Simon Shaw to lock.
"I am looking forward immensely to the first scrum of the day, and I am hoping there will be many of them," Regan, 35, said.
"We know the forwards will win this game and the backs will decide by how many points.
"I do enjoy a good scrum and the Aussies know it."
With former bricklayer Andy Sheridan at loosehead prop, the English front row boasts an average age of 32 compared to Australia's 25.
Dunning, 28, who came off the bench in the 2003 World Cup final, is the Wallabies' most experienced front rower with 35 caps.
Under forwards coach and former 50-test hooker Michael Foley, the Australian scrum has improved greatly on its poor 2005 results.
"Saturday will be a good yardstick to see how much we have improved," Dunning said.
"The England pack is a world-class pack and possibly, apart from the Kiwi pack, they're the best in the world.
"It will be good to see where we're at."
- AAP
