YOU BULLIES!
Wallaby coach Cheika hits out at England’s brutal tactics
AUSTRALIA head coach Michael Cheika yesterday accused England of landing cheap shots on his players.
Ahead of their clash at Twickenham tomorrow, Cheika claimed Eddie Jones’s team deliberately target the Wallabies half-backs with late tackles.
‘They will try to bully us,’ said Cheika, who has lost four Tests against England since Jones took charge. ‘They try to bully us at the scrum, the lineout, the ruck — trying to get into us, niggle, trying to get into our half-back after he passes, the 10 after he passes. They wait for us to crack.’
Cheika will not raise his complaint with Kiwi referee Ben O’Keeffe, whom he criticised harshly after last month’s 27-27 draw with South Africa. ‘I won’t highlight it to the ref, what’s the point?’ said Cheika. ‘It’s part of the game. You can’t let it get you rattled.’
Jones dismissed Cheika’s comments, saying: ‘I don’t have a response.’
The England coach has recalled Owen Farrell at inside centre but Maro Itoje is only on the bench.
ENGLAND will unleash a ‘Maserati’ and the rest of their turbocharged flying squad at Twickenham tomorrow in an attempt to run rings around Australia’s monster back division.
Eddie Jones yesterday named a line-up containing arguably the fastest back-three unit ever assembled by the national team in a reshuffle prompted by the enforced absence of Mike Brown. The Harlequins full back, who is recovering from a head knock, has been a stalwart of the Jones era, starting in 20 of the 21 Tests under the Australian head coach. Anthony Watson will take his place and the addition of Jonny May adds further express pace to the English attack.
Jones is hoping to lay a speed trap for the Wallabies to orchestrate England’s fifth successive victory over his compatriots. ‘Watson’s like a Maserati — he’s an absolute flyer,’ said Jones.
He’s certainly not the only one in this team. On the left wing, Elliot Daly is rapid and on the far side, May will make his Test comeback as a man on a roll. He has scored 10 tries in nine matches this season since joining Leicester and set a sprint personal best last Saturday at Twickenham before England’s autumn opener against Argentina to prove he had recovered fully from a hamstring strain.
‘I’m still getting quicker and I reached a top speed of 10.49m/s last Saturday,’ said the 27-year- old. ‘I was gobsmacked that I did it because I had just tweaked my hammy the week before. I didn’t think I would go anywhere near that fast. I knew I had to run flat out to test it. I was pretty nervous about doing it, but it was fine. And I ran quick, which was a bonus.’
May knows he is not the only one capable of running amok tomorrow, adding: ‘Elliot has got some wheels and we know Tone (Watson) is quick. It’s an exciting back three. We’ll miss Brownie, but it gives an opportunity for Anthony to have a go at full back and that excites us as well.’
Dylan Hartley will lead an England side armed with a lethal weapon on the right. He said: ‘Jonny’s fast. Jonny’s real fast. The way Jonny prepares is unbelievable, he’s a 24/7 athlete. Everything he does is to make sure he’s the fastest winger in the world or whatever he wants. He’s unbelievable.’
However, England are aware they cannot simply aim to out-run the Wallabies. They are bracing themselves for a brutal showdown with a big, powerful team featuring several giant backs. Jones knows his players must be ready for an almighty physical confrontation and insisted the hosts will match fire with fire.
‘We’ll get stuck into Australia,’ he said. ‘There’s no choice. They’ve got a big forward pack and their backs are as big as their forwards, so we’ve got to get stuck into them early. They’re probably the most physical side in the world, but we want to show that we can physically dominate them up front.’
Joe Launchbury has been brought back into the starting XV to add ballast in the second row. He was chosen ahead of Maro Itoje, as the Lions lock — rested last weekend — returns as a substitute. Jones said: ‘It’s just looking after the players. The number of players who have suffered long-term injuries from the Lions tour is significant.
‘We’re missing Ben Te’o and Jack Nowell, Wales have lost George North and Jonathan Davies — the list continues — so we want to make sure we look after our players.
‘Part of that is bringing Maro through. He’ll play part of the game this week — he might play a lot of the game this week. Just because he’s starting on the bench doesn’t mean he can’t play 79 minutes, there’s no reason why he can’t.’
Owen Farrell returns at inside centre and his presence will remind Australia of the ordeals of last year, when they lost four successive Tests against their English rivals. Jones believes those results will leave psychological scars, adding: ‘They’ll have a bit of an itch in the back of their head. When the game gets tighter, their memory will go back to those previous games. So that’s an advantage for us, that itch in the back of their head.’
ENGLAND: Watson; May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; M Vunipola, Hartley (capt), Cole; Launchbury, Lawes; Robshaw, Hughes, Underhill. Subs: George, Marler, Williams, Itoje, Simmonds, Care, Slade, Rokoduguni.
AUSTRALIA: Beale; Koroibete, Kuridrani, Kerevi, Hodge; Foley, Genia; Sio, Polota-Nau, Kepu; Simmons, Coleman; Hanigan, McMahon, Hooper (capt). Subs: Moore, Robertson, Alaalatoa, Philip, McCalman, Timani, Phipps, Hunt, Speight.