Australia hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau has declared that the Wallabies will "dominate" England's scrum in Saturday's clash at Twickenham.
The Wallabies were second best in all departments against France in Paris last weekend, struggling up front against a French pack that included two news caps in Yannick Forestier and Jocelino Suta.
England were unsurprisingly dominant against Fiji at Twickenham but also impressed with their scrummaging during the Six Nations earlier this year. Polota-Nau though is confident that Australia can replicate previous victories against England and will come out on top this Saturday.
"We are confident we can dominate the English scrum. We have got it right in previous games, we just have to revisit where we were strong and concentrate on that," said Polota-Nau.
"We like to keep our game consistent but Saturday night was our fault. We just have to stick to what we know.
"The collision is one area that we want to dominate because the team that does gets the benefit of go forward ball.
"We are feeling good. The French game is gone and there is a new challenge ahead and everyone is keen to get back out on the pitch.
"My opinion is that if the forwards are good, that is the only way you are going to win a Test.
"It is more about mental preparation for us. We know we have got it, but we just have to make sure that mentally we are right so we can do the physical stuff."
Comments
heart_of_oak says...
1132159, what I said was I think our scrum is better than theirs but that all the cockiness being shown could come back to haunt people.
I see that the Boks are now number 2 in the rankings with Australia dropping to 3rd. But the Aussies are still above us. I pray for an England win but if it doesn't happen, alot of people posting here are going to look pretty stupid. However, if England beat Australia convincingly then I will be happy to have people tell me "I told you so".
Posted 15:00 13th November 2012
1132159 says...
@jameslivesinhope, ArmchairGeneral, heart_of_oak - do you honestly think the Australian scrum has a chance against the English one? Unless they're successful at duping the referee for the entire game by dropping at every engagement, that simply isn't going to happen. And even if he really is that confident (delusional?) in his team's ability at the set piece, surely he'd have been far better served to be diplomatic in his reply, as numerous other posters have pointed out? Sometimes, you have to call people on their bovine excrement.
Posted 13:34 13th November 2012
kybone says...
heart_of_oak - No they're ranked no.3 and by close of play on Saturday they'll hopefully be ranked no.5.
Posted 13:34 13th November 2012
rugbyphile says...
The scrum will collapse repeatedly--put money on that. If the Wallabies are lucky they may fluke a couple of undeserved penalties. That is the best they can hope for.
Posted 13:28 13th November 2012
Trader2 says...
OzinLondon
Well said, the job is yours. Very unfortunate that he used (and it seemed to be a direct quote) the word "dominate". In the modern game you don't need to dominate, but you need to compete and then you are half a chance. I cannot remember a dominate performance by a Wannabie scrum for about 10 years or so (although I am sure there has been one or two)
Posted 13:12 13th November 2012
williasj says...
one too many concussions for this guy me thinks.......
Posted 12:36 13th November 2012
JamieTheProp says...
The problem is that the Aussies will have been working on neutralising the England scrum all week (rather than working on how to dominate it).
In modern rugby where the referee has no real clue what goes on in the scrum players know that if they take a scrum down it is often a 50/50 decision as to who will get the penalty. It would be naive of Australia to try and compete with England so they'll be looking at tactics to stop the scrum working at all - I am expecting a lot of reset scrums.
I don't know who is refereeing but I hope it is a French or NH ref who understands this and can referee a real scrum. We need to get back to the days when, if a scrum was going forward and it collapsed, the team going forward got the penalty (common sense really - no scrum going forward will pull it down!
Robshaw also needs to be constantly communicating with his front row and the ref.
The game can't be won at scrum time but it is a good platform and a great psychological boost.
The areas we need to perfrom to win are the breakdown and the contact/tackle area - if we can dominate those we have a great chance.
Beating Australia is never, ever going to be easy so we need to play a game that suits us and not them and take our chances when they come - dominate up front, win quick ball at the breakdown and get over the gain line - if we do that we'll have a good chance.
Although in my heart, as an old-school (and just plain old) tight head of course I want to see the superior England scrum smash the Australian excuse for a scrum - but in modern rugby there are too many ways an inferior scrum can gain parity by non-scrummaging!
Posted 12:27 13th November 2012
jestnation says...
Always a little bit dubious about quotes like this.
When journalists ask a player whether they're fully prepared to rollover and die in their next game of course they'll come out defiantly fighting. What you end up with is a stupid answer to a stupid question. Unfortunately it's the player who ends up looking like a pillock (99%) or a genius (1%) not the journo.
As an England fan I'm not concerned about dominating the set piece. If you dominate it's a bonus but we're good enough to win our fair share of ball and that should be enough providing it's used properly.
I am concerned about the collision area though.
For a number of years we've not been at the races here.
We don't hit the breakdowns hard or fast enough.
Our players are as fit, strong and physical as anyone else so why don't we cross the gain line as much as other sides?
Posted 11:33 13th November 2012
Trinats2 says...
Has Deans left already ?
Posted 11:14 13th November 2012
butl says...
Jim Telfor would be writing that lot on a white-board!
"That's what they think of us boys"
Posted 11:08 13th November 2012
kybone says...
Apparently he also thinks that the Italian backs will have just too much pace and skill for the All Blacks to handle!
Posted 10:46 13th November 2012
heart_of_oak says...
Guys, if I were you, I would not sound quite so brash and over confident. The Aussies are ranked number 2 in the world, aren't they ? Personally I think our scrum is better than theirs but your cockiness could come back to haunt you.
Posted 10:31 13th November 2012
sirtidychris says...
Wish andy sheridan and Dylan hartley were starting this game along with Louis deacon, perhaps not the best players for every sphere of the game but for utterly destroying an ozzie scrum you cant go wrong
Posted 10:30 13th November 2012
TheTruthHurts says...
Stupid comments "just shut up" we got thrashed by France in the forwards, these are just frustrated words and nothing more. All OZ supporters know that there is loads of work to be done...!!!
Posted 10:08 13th November 2012
rugby_phile says...
And there goes the buls**t we continuously get from Aussies. For Christ sake do you talking on the pitch you moron. I traditionally support any SH against NH teams but this idiot just forced me to wish England destroy them. No humility, sense of reality or respect for the opposition. Get out of that toxic environment Deans, before it destroys you. Most obnoxious loosers in the world.
Posted 10:04 13th November 2012
ferdie says...
as if England's forward pack needed any more motivation for an important test, good one TPN.
As for 'We like to keep our game consistent' what a joke, the biggest bunch of flakes as far as consistency goes. Winning six from twelve tests this year is though, I suppose, consistent in a way.
Posted 09:59 13th November 2012
Stugur says...
Surely he lies?
Posted 09:57 13th November 2012
OzinLondon says...
I have no doubt that he is responding to the question, "Do you think you have any chance against the English scrum on Saturday?" and he trying to be positive in his response. I just don't know who advises these guys on the words they use.
He is far from a cocky, loud mouth player and so God only knows why he would use that word.
"We weren't happy with our scrum on Saturday but we more than held our own against good scrums during the 4N and so we are confident that we can fix things for Saturday".
Simple. Can I have a job as the Wallabies media consultant?
Posted 09:55 13th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
France has done England no favours. I think he's probably right. If they get back to basics they have a pack to match the top 3 and England also. And the backs to capitalise on even possession.
Posted 09:54 13th November 2012
Chinstan says...
Has he not learnt from the past? Every time the Aussies say they are going to smash us we win. So I for one am very happy for more chat like this!
Posted 09:53 13th November 2012