One of the key clashes of the Rugby World Cup final will be barely visible.
The Australian and English front rows do most of their work in the depths of scrums, rucks and mauls. But their foraging and driving will set up the platform needed for both sides’ backlines to fire on Saturday.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said the battle will be crucial.
”If you can stop the forward pack at the gain line, your defence is on the offensive. Then you’ve got the ability to put the number 10 under pressure and that’s the whole game,” he said.
England’s experienced front row of props Phil Vickery and Trevor Woodman and hooker Steve Thompson pack down against Al Baxter, Bill Young and hooker Brendan Cannon on Saturday.
Baxter (26) did not even dream of playing for the Wallabies at the start of the season, let alone starting the World Cup final in front of a sellout crowd at Sydney’s Olympic stadium.
”The big aim … was just to start the Super 12 and make the Australia A tour so to be playing in a World Cup final is quite amazing,” he said.
While Baxter, who is in for the injured Ben Darwin, is just starting his career, the final could mark one of the last international appearances for veteran English prop Jason Leonard.
Leonard starts on the bench but if he makes it on to the field he will earn his 113th cap. His fleeting semifinal appearance took him past France’s Philippe Sella as the most-capped rugby international to date.
”Just to get the opportunity [to play] is a highlight,” Leonard said. ”It’s a nice reward to get to the final but there’s a lot more hard work to do. We have 80 more minutes to go.”
Leonard is the only survivor of England’s 1991 World Cup final defeat by Australia at Twickenham, when the English decided to play an expansive game in the final after tight forward-based tactics had taken them to the championship match.
He still regrets that change of style.
”We should have perhaps stayed to our old formula,” he said.
”But the decision makers on the pitch that day decided we were going to stay with the plan the management made for the final, which was to spread the ball wide.”
Although scrummaging is still the front rows’ main occupation, Leonard said their role in the game has expanded in the professional era.
”If you have a look at forwards before, they never used to get involved in much more than scrums and lineouts,” he said. ”The game now is all about work rate, tackle counts … so from a forward’s point of view you are always involved in the game … it’s a lot faster than what it was when I started playing.”
If the weather for Saturday’s final is anything like the rain-soaked semifinal against France, the forwards will likely have plenty to do.
England’s pack was instrumental in protecting flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson so he could boot all of their points in the 24-7 victory over France.
”The English are very good in the scrum and lineout and their forward play is excellent, so we’re really going to have to be focused and on our game this weekend,” said Baxter. ”We’re going to have to play well to try to beat these guys.” — Sapa-AP