Wobbling Wallabies take aim at old rival

THE four years of misery Australia’s long-suffering rugby supporters have endured since the last World Cup will end against England. Win or lose. Beating the Poms always makes things seem better than they are.

The English have won the past six matches against Australia and haven’t stopped crowing about it so shutting them up will be reward enough for winning.

The icing on the cake is that if the Wallabies can beat England, they will give fresh hope that they can win the World Cup, something even the most loyal Wallaby fan hasn’t been able to dream about in years. But even a loss, as painful as they might be, will also bring new hope.

If the Wallabies do go down, they’ll be remembered as one of Australia’s worst-performed teams at any Rugby World Cup, joining the 1995 and 2007 squads as the only Wallaby sides to fail to reach the semi-finals.

The fallout will be swift and brutal. Heads will roll but it will trigger a new rebuilding process and changes at the top.

For the game’s frustrated fans who have grown sick of Michael Cheika’s promise that things will get better, that time can’t come soon enough.

But for now, it’s still game on and the Wallabies really can beat the English but only if they play a lot better than how they have so far.

All the bravado about wanting to attack teams from the start just sounds like a lame excuse when they keep dropping the ball and stumbling out of the gates each time.

And all the whining about referees and how everyone is out to get Australia isn’t fooling anyone.

The Wallabies only have themselves to blame for losing to Wales and ending up on the harder side of the draw against England, but there’s no more second chances so it’s time to stand up and deliver.

Unless it’s some elaborate hoax, the constant chopping and changing of players is the clearest sign all is not well within the camp.

The selection of the untested teenage Jordan Petaia at outside centre, while exciting, bears all the hallmarks of an NFL quarterback’s hail mary pass when they just throw the ball as far as they can in the hope someone catches it in the end zone, though Cheika sees it differently.

“I know that lad will rise up to that challenge,” he said. “I know it.

“I’ve seen it in him, so I know he will.”

Let’s hope he’s right though Petaia’s selection neatly sums up the predicament the Wallabies have got themselves in.

They’re just not as good as they keep saying they are.