Expert Witness: Lewis Moody on England v Australia

With England one from one following their win versus Tonga, their season moves up a gear as they host Australia on Saturday for the Cook Cup. Planet Rugby caught up with former Red Rose skipper Lewis Moody to discuss the key points ahead of the weekend.

Seven from seven

In the six years Eddie Jones has been head coach of England, the tier one nation that they hold a 100% record against is Australia, winning seven consecutive times. However, under Dave Rennie, the Wallabies have shown remarkable progress during the Rugby Championship this year and Moody expects this to be one of the toughest tests England will face this season.

“I played more Tests against the Aussies than any other nation,” he said.

“One of the things that always struck me was they were the side that we always used to measure the progress of our attack against. The Springboks were always the acid test of forward play, but the Wallabies always were the ones I felt had the most creative and inventive backline, always intelligent and always full of pace.

“In my 10 Tests against them, we won six times, including that fantastic 21-20 win in Sydney in 2010, but they were always really tough to unlock and always had the firepower to create a lot of scoring chances. In fact, I think there are at least five players currently involved with the Wallabies that I’ve played against in internationals, which shows their level of maturity and their continuity of selection.

“One of those players is the peerless Michael Hooper, a player I have immense respect for and someone I thoroughly enjoyed battling against. I well remember when he came on the scene – as a back-row, we’d already struggled against the magnificence of the great David Pocock at seven – and Michael was someone that shared a very similar skillset and a player that’s absolutely relentless, pushing well above his size and weight. Playing against one of them was tough enough, but both of them, well, that was a really hard day at the office!

“Michael has continued to adapt his game to modern demands and is as good an openside as any in the world, possibly even the best. He has a real eye for a gap, as evidenced by his incredible strike rate – 22 tries in 117 Tests is remarkable for a forward. He loves a pick and go through the ruck and he attacks the sides of the breakdown with ball in hand from a very low position, which makes him very effective in the pick and drive game, something he has hurt many Test sides with.”

Back-row balance

“I’m pretty sure that Eddie Jones will stick with the same starting back-row that played versus Tonga, and then bring Alex Dombrandt on to add powerful carrying against a tiring defence. This means that whilst we have probably our best three back-rowers on the pitch, that Tom Curry has to play at eight,” Moody said.

“I’ve been watching the rattle about Tom with interest. I am of the belief that skill blends in the back-row are more important that the actual shirt numbers, but even then, you have to understand the nuances of your role, and specifically, the angles of defence as a unit that you have to adapt to.

“The physical side of playing open, blind or eight is not as important as the mental sharpness you need moving between the three. I actually, as a 6.5 myself, always enjoyed playing left and right as it allowed you a more complete performance. Crucially, it also allowed you to form a scrummaging relationship with your prop; you’d be scrummaging behind the same guy all game and that continuity allowed you to adapt to his needs and to form an understanding. I think far too many coaches stick slavishly to blind and open, where others, like France and Argentina, gain a lot, especially in the scrummage, by playing left and right.

“Going back to Tom, he made a lot of good decisions on Saturday. As an eight, you’ll have more moments in the game where you have to make a carrying decision than you might have as a flanker. It’s not always about hard bosh yards, it’s about making the right decision to allow attacking or defensive tactics to be employed by others around you. If you look at the Tongan game, Tom carried 10 times for some 40 metres and retained the ball each time – that is exactly what you want from your eight and he’s developing well into the role.

He continued: “On the downside, I did notice he and Sam Underhill running the same defensive line off the scrum on a couple of occasions. Ideally, you want your seven running at the fly-halves’ weaker shoulder – to control and dictate the space available for him to kick or pass. The eight needs to remain on the openside’s inside shoulder, so if the attack then moves inside via a pop pass to a big carrier, or if the scrum-half breaks down the side of the scrum, your eight makes that tackle with the six supporting as the next man in. If the seven makes a tackle down the wider 10 channel then the eight supports as the next in and so on.

“Curry needs to stay closer on his defending vector when playing against the Aussies. Both Nic White and Rob Valetini like to break in a straight line down the scrum fringe and if the English back-row don’t work as a unit, there could be some pain caused there.”

Old faces

“Going back to the wider picture, Australia, under Rennie, have really started to fire. They have a competitive scrum, and when they have go forward in the pack, we always know what their gifted backline can create. Whilst they’re not on tour, Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi have been the key players in that revitalisation and their omission might just tip the favourites tag in England’s way,” he added.

“Quade was a nightmare for any flanker; he schooled me in Perth in 2010 and won the game for Australia in a brilliant display. In fact, that game made me rethink a lot about what I was doing as skipper. I realised I’d lost focus in my personal performances and was thinking too much about leading the team. I spent a lot of time studying the tape in the week leading up to the next Test and focused on being ‘me’ as a player, something that I really hope the likes of Curry and others take on board this week.

“Whilst those two stars aren’t around this tour, the DNA remains the same and in James O’Connor, Andrew Kellaway and others, they’ve got gas to burn in the backline and if they get go forward in set-piece and breakdown, they’ll cause a lot of issues.

“One of the features of the Rugby Championship was how effective the Wallabies were at stopping driving mauls, with Izack Rodda and Matt Philip exceptional at timing their defence. England score a lot of tries from those positions and I feel that over-reliance on the catch and drive won’t result in as many positive outcomes as against other sides.

“With Eddie Jones almost certain to select Owen Farrell at 10, with the incredible talent off the bench of Marcus Smith, I just wonder if we’ve enough starting firepower to own the scoreboard early on. It’s absolutely key to get early points, as the Aussies have an ability to score from anywhere and the last thing you want is to play catch up rugby against such a lethal attack.

“I genuinely think this is one of the toughest tests England have faced since the 2019 World Cup and although it’ll be hard, the absence of Quade and Kerevi just makes me feel England will steal it.”

We thank Lewis for his time.

Lewis Moody’s Test team to face Australia: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Trevor Davison, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Mark Atkinson

Lewis Moody MBE was a tearaway flanker for Leicester Tigers, Bath and England. Lion #723, he has won every honour in the game and is the most decorated British player of all time. A World Cup winner in 2003, he played 71 times for England and twice for the British Lions, scoring ten international tries.