Deans salutes his pack

Australia coach Robbie Deans praised his much-maligned pack after they provided the platform for the Wallabies' 28-14 win against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Australia coach Robbie Deans praised his much-maligned pack after they provided the platform for the Wallabies' 28-14 win against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

When the teams last met, in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final, England won 12-10 after their pack pulverised Australia at the scrum.

But it was a different story this time around with the Wallabies even winning a couple of strikes against the head in the second half, something of a rarity in modern Test rugby.

“I'm delighted for the boys. They put in and got their reward, not only in the set-piece but around the ground,” Deans said after Australia's first Twickenham victory for four years.

“They (England) asked the question and our guys passed the test.

“We had confidence in our scrum, it's been good for us all year,” the Kiwi added.

England gave away some needless penalties which helped Wallaby pivot Matt Giteau, who landed six out of his seven goals, to kick 20 points.

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock added another from long distance before Adam Ashley-Cooper's converted try late on assured Australia of victory.

“We were able to bring pressure to bear and that drew a stress response from England,” Deans explained.

Al Baxter would have had more reason than most for savouring this victory.

At Twickenham in 2005 when England won 26-16 the Wallaby prop was sin-binned after being overpowered by opposing front row Andrew Sheridan, an opponent again on Saturday.

And he was powerless to prevent Sheridan inflicting further damage in Marseille last year after coming on as a replacement.

But Baxter was ultimately proved right in his view that recent history would have no bearing on this match.

“As much as the press focused on previous games, we are looking at what's ahead not behind,” he said ahead of the Wallabies' match against France in Paris next weekend.

Australia hooker Stephen Moore, the man-of-the-match, said the front row's self-belief had never been an issue.

“It's no surprise to me Al scrummaged well and Benn Robinson too,” said Moore.

“We had every faith in each other and that's all that mattered.”

England Manager Martin Johnson, who captained his country to victory against Australia in the 2003 World Cup final, saw his first match in charge against major oppostion end in defeat following last weekend's 39-13 victory over the Pacific Islanders.

“Australia scored 28 points and we didn't make them work hard enough for 28 points,” Johnson said.

“We gave them seven kickable penalties and they got six.

“We did things that were obvious penalties, three or four were blatantly silly. We've got to look at ourselves,” said Johnson, who added South African referee Marius Jonker would have “made things worse” if he'd sin-binned Australia players for early scrum collapses.

Defeat did nothing for England's grip on fourth place in the world rankings.

Last year's World Cup finalists need to be in the top four come next month's draw for the 2011 tournament in New Zealand if they are to avoid the 'big three' of the All Blacks, the Wallabies and world champions South Africa in the pool stages.

While Australia, well-directed by Giteau, made the most of their chances, youthful England half-backs Danny Care and Danny Cipriani didn't provide the same control.

“There were opportunities for us to create try-scoring chances. We didn't see them or didn't exploit them,” said Johnson, whose team faces the Springboks at Twickenham next weekend.

“There were situations when they got slow ball and then we gave a penalty away when we didn't need to. We need to trust ourselves more.”