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HAVING travelled to Cork to watch Sam Burgess and the rest of England's second-stringers take on their Irish counterparts 10 days ago, and followed up with careful analysis of the first round of the Six Nations over the weekend, I can report that Australia is in deep trouble come the Rugby World Cup.
And that's not just the Wallaby players I'm talking about. It's the spectators as well.
To say all signs are pointing to a dour affair when the tournament begins in a mere seven months' time, is to praise it up.
Don't be fooled by what you will see when the first round of Super Rugby kicks off on Friday night.
Fleet footed backs, slick passing and quick ball from set pieces might be all the go in SANZAR's made-for-TV running rugby extravaganza, but that's not the way the game is played in these parts.
Rugby here is a game of attrition, in which field position, rather than verve or imagination, is the objective.
Teams run the ball only as a last resort. Why risk chasing five points for a try when you can get six with a penalty and a field goal?
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You think I exaggerate? Sit through a replay of the France-Scotland match if you can.
At one stage the Scots attempted a 64m penalty goal. It was unsuccessful, forcing them to fall back on Plan B, in which, through a succession of forceful charges and well-controlled phases, the Scottish forwards set up play 30m from the opposition tryline and delivered perfect ball to their backs.
With the French defenders back-pedalling and his runners fanned out either side of him, the Scottish five-eighth took a shot at field goal, and missed.
With all other options closed to them the Scots then did the unthinkable, running the ball and scoring a try.
Not that it did them much good. France, once renowned for flair, won 15-8 thanks to five penalty goals.
England's come-from-behind win over Wales has been touted as the best of coach Stuart Lancaster's time in charge, but impressive as the men in white were in the set pieces, their backs at times looked like they couldn't score a try at training.
On one occasion in the second half when centre Luther Burrell found himself on the end of a promising backline move, he was so unsure of what to do with the ball that in the end he simply dropped it.
Luther Burrell makes a break for England in the Six Nations match against Wales in Cardiff. Source: AFP
Which is not to denigrate the performance of the English, or in fact any of the other Northern hemisphere teams. This is how they train to play the game. It is how their coaches want them to perform and, as long as they win, their supporters have no complaints.
Watching the uninspiring contest in Cork — a virtual trial match in which the final result was meaningless — I was stunned when the Irish Wolfhounds, trailing England Saxons by five points late in the second half, opted to take a penalty goal from wide out rather than kick for touch and throw everything into scoring a try from the lineout.
I was even more stunned that none of the local crowd seemed in the least concerned.
When I told the Irish journalist seated next to me that such a decision in Australia would have been met with loud boos, he pointed out that should the kick be successful (which it wasn't) the home team would need only one more three-pointer to record a fabulous try-less victory.
It was logic that runs contrary to the way the game is played in Australia (when I tried to discuss that part of the match with a former Super Rugby coach I knew was watching on TV, he informed me he had switched over to Seinfeld in the second half) but with the Wallabies beaten by England, Ireland and France on the recent Spring Tour — and conceding a penalty try from a scrum in the win against Wales — who are we to argue?
The likely Wallabies front row of Sekope Kepu, Stephen Moore and James Slipper will be sorely tested at the Rugby World Cup. Source: Getty Images
Crowds in the Northern hemisphere roar at the sight of a scrum being reset, therefore raising hopes of a penalty, with the same fervour Aussies and Kiwis reserve for a length of the field try. Rest assured that when the World Cup starts at Twickenham on September 18 everything from grounds to official interpretations, to weather, will be set up for England to be able to play their style of play all the way to the Webb Ellis Cup.
Of course the key to such a game plan is having the dominant pack, and that starts with the front row, which is where Australia's stocks are thin to say the least.
Fair to say, after James Slipper and Sekope Kepu, the Wallabies have a pretty long tail and with England and Wales both in our pool, it could well be exposed.
At the end of the disappointing Spring Tour, Wallaby coach Michael Cheika said he had a few aces up his sleeve when it came to strengthening the front row ranks.
In hookers Stephen Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau, he has two good organisers returning from injury, but where's the beef to hold them up?
When the Super Rugby starts on the weekend maybe Aussie supporters should forget about looking at the tries for once and concentrate on spotting Cheika's (very) secret weapons in the front row.
Because if he can't make those props appear out of somewhere, it's going to be a very short, but painful, World Cup.
