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| quote: | Originally posted by lethal
Wilkinson 24 - France 7 |
Wrong wrong wrong - sure Wilkinson scored all the points, but he relies totally on the forward pack! England's forwards push forward with the rolling mauls and straight runs to get good central field position, then set up an umbrella around Wilkinson to give him time to set up his drop goals.
I think Australia will do much better against England than the French did, especially if we play like we did against the Kiwis. England's defence is brittle around the edges, Robinson is a good player but when he's facing off against Tuqiri, Sailor, Mortlock and Rogers. Once we start running the ball wide and not dropping it, I think we'll make some excellent gains. Consider that our outside backs managed to shut down Howlett, Rokocoko and Muliaina last weekend, England's outside backs are definitely less fearsome.
George Smith and Phil Waugh (players of the tournament for mine) will also put much more pressure on the English breakdown than the French did, spoiling the amount of clean ball that Wilkinson gets, and pinching the ball for quick turnovers.
The weather will also play an important part - the weather here in Sydney has been hot and humid the last two days, hopefully this continues. The heat will slow England down tremendously in the last 20 minutes, but rain will definitely play against us (as our handling errors are well known - rain will only increase these and make try-scoring difficult, while England don't rely on as much passing as we do).
Should be a very close game, but I think Australia will come out on top. Fingers crossed.
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