In fact Australia were anxious enough for ex-coach Bob Dwyer to cry foul over Joe Marler’s scrummaging technique.
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Tyler Morgan missed out on original World Cup selection, but was then drafted in as replacement for Allen, who suffered a tournament-ending hamstring injury after scoring three tries against opening opponents Uruguay nine days ago. These comments are designed purely to draw attention towards England and to take the focus off Australia.
In a game which sees Wales tipped as heavy favourites, both Wales and Fiji have made changes to their starting line-ups.
The Wallabies have sought to make improvements in the scrum and under new set-piece coach Mario Ledesma have not been clearly bested all winter.
As well as the technical improvements it is all about attitude, and players’ willingness to get in there and contest the scrum. “It will be a loss they will always remember”.
“They are exceptionally talented”, said former utility back Catt. The thing England are fighting now, the thing that no other country has to deal with, is a destructive media. If it gets loose, they will really be into their game, so we’ve got to watch what we are doing ourselves.
It will be a brilliantly prepared Ireland against a France capable of the best and worst when they meet on the last day of the pool matches, October 11. I was impressed that a couple of players after the game were happy with the win, but not 100 per cent happy with their own performance.
“A couple of calls went against us but Fiji had a couple of tough calls against England as well so hopefully tomorrow will be a fair contest”. When he went off the intensity which was previously there seemed to go with him.
Jonathan Joseph is set to be recalled at outside centre when England name their team on Thursday morning, providing there are no late setbacks in his recovery from a chest injury.
I have no problem with the initial choice because it was a positive option.
Despite failing to deliver against the Welsh the team has its next crucial hurdle to face on Saturday.
But Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb played their part on Wednesday evening when they were on hand to present the Wales squad for Thursday’s match with Fiji with their match jerseys. The dwarf throwing, the Mike Tindall photos, the ferry leap by Manu Tuilagi, and the tabloid frenzy all led the RFU to the door of Lancaster, who was given a brief to clean up the image of the game in England.
His and Brown’s words have caused a bit of a shock.
A bulldozing pack has been the building block for past England successes over the Wallabies and they are banking on pushing Australia into reverse again to save their World Cup campaign.
Catt has long experience of external and internal criticism, having been dropped and recalled probably more times than any other England player en route to winning 75 caps over a 13-year test career that included two World Cup finals.
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The Welsh are fielding their strongest side not only to rack the win that could advance them to the quarterfinals, but also to right a few wrongs in the win over England.
