WELLS: FORGET SCRUM AGAINST AUSTRALIA
John Wells has urged his team and supporters to forget how easily England out-scrummaged Australia in the World Cup quarter-final last year as their opponents on Saturday are a much more physical side – and he expects an “all-out battle”.
The England forwards coach had pin-pointed a weakness that Phil Vickery’s team could exploit in the 12-10 victory in Marseille, but know that the green and golds will be much smarter in the set-piece area this time.
“We had a good 10 or 15 minutes in the World Cup against Australia,” said the 45-year-old former Leicester Tigers back-rower, “but that, by and large, was the superiority at the time. They have re-addressed a lot of those issues and I think they are a much more physical team now.
“We have got to stop talking about what happened in that World Cup quarter-final because we had been together for 10-12 weeks by then and played half-a-dozen games. We knew a lot more about each other at that point. The danger is to look back at that day in Marseille. That was a very special moment in rugby where a lot of good things came together for 80 minutes.
“You have only got to look at the way Australia scrummaged during the Tri-Nations this year – they have put an awful lot of time and effort into developing their scrum. They have played 11 Test matches together this year and worked hard on that area.”
Wells continued: “With the size of their pack and their backs they have increased the physicality of their team as a whole. They are under a new gaffer (Robbie Deans), they have already played a full Tri-Nations and some summer tour games. They have played a lot of games together under a new regime. I suspect that when that new regime came in they looked at some of the issues which perhaps cost Australia a place in that World Cup and I suspect they have addressed them.”
Martin Johnson began his regime last Saturday win a 39-13 win over Pacific Islanders at Twickeham, but his assistant Wells knows that the coming games against Deans’s Australia, World Champions South Africa and New Zealand will prove a sterner test.
“Now we are only two weeks into an international series and we have played one game and we are still finding our feet at the moment,” he added. “We hope to improve as a team as the series progresses.
“It’s going to be an all out battle at the weekend. We know that we will be in a really tough game in that scrummage area. We will have to work really hard individually and collectively in that area to get that superiority.
“We have to front up this autumn – it is a new start. We want to make it big.”
John Wells has urged his team and supporters to forget how easily England out-scrummaged Australia in the World Cup quarter-final last year as their opponents on Saturday are a much more physical side – and he expects an “all-out battle”.
The England forwards coach had pin-pointed a weakness that Phil Vickery’s team could exploit in the 12-10 victory in Marseille, but know that the green and golds will be much smarter in the set-piece area this time.
“We had a good 10 or 15 minutes in the World Cup against Australia,” said the 45-year-old former Leicester Tigers back-rower, “but that, by and large, was the superiority at the time. They have re-addressed a lot of those issues and I think they are a much more physical team now.
“We have got to stop talking about what happened in that World Cup quarter-final because we had been together for 10-12 weeks by then and played half-a-dozen games. We knew a lot more about each other at that point. The danger is to look back at that day in Marseille. That was a very special moment in rugby where a lot of good things came together for 80 minutes.
“You have only got to look at the way Australia scrummaged during the Tri-Nations this year – they have put an awful lot of time and effort into developing their scrum. They have played 11 Test matches together this year and worked hard on that area.”
Wells continued: “With the size of their pack and their backs they have increased the physicality of their team as a whole. They are under a new gaffer (Robbie Deans), they have already played a full Tri-Nations and some summer tour games. They have played a lot of games together under a new regime. I suspect that when that new regime came in they looked at some of the issues which perhaps cost Australia a place in that World Cup and I suspect they have addressed them.”
Martin Johnson began his regime last Saturday win a 39-13 win over Pacific Islanders at Twickeham, but his assistant Wells knows that the coming games against Deans’s Australia, World Champions South Africa and New Zealand will prove a sterner test.
“Now we are only two weeks into an international series and we have played one game and we are still finding our feet at the moment,” he added. “We hope to improve as a team as the series progresses.
“It’s going to be an all out battle at the weekend. We know that we will be in a really tough game in that scrummage area. We will have to work really hard individually and collectively in that area to get that superiority.
“We have to front up this autumn – it is a new start. We want to make it big.”
Labels: Australia, England, John Wells, Martin Johnson
