LONDON: Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has been singled out for ‘‘special attention’’ from England in Saturday’s Test at Twickenham.
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Hooper has been outstanding for Australia since winning the first of his 41 caps in June 2012 with his ball-carrying, breakdown threat and work-rate identifying him as probably the sport’s best openside.
England assistant coach Graham Rowntree believes one of the ways of restricting Australia’s vast array of attacking talent is by shackling their 23-year-old flanker.
‘‘Hooper needs special attention. We have to nullify him at the weekend and keep him quiet,’’ Rowntree said.
‘‘He’s a Jack-in-the-box, he’s everywhere. His line speed and energy are superb and he’s durable as well because he doesn’t miss many minutes.
‘‘He’s pretty central to everything Australia do offensively – and at the breakdown as well.’’
The breakdown will be a key battleground on Saturday with England desperate to cut off the supply of quick ball to Australia’s gifted backline, while supplying its own backs with the possession to cause damage.
Rowntree insists the Red Rose’s speed in this department will be critical.
‘‘You want clean ball at your breakdown. We work on ball speed every day,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got to go under 4 seconds for ours and anything over that that we can give them, the better. We work on that constantly. Ball speed’s important. If we can get that ball speed down to under four seconds then we’re in business.
‘‘Historically against Australia we are under four seconds.
‘‘You’d be surprised how quick the ball is that we get against the All Blacks and how we can slow their breakdown down as well.
‘‘Between four and five seconds is acceptable. If it’s between four and six, then we’ve got problems. It doesn’t sound much, but it’s a big difference.’’
Meanwhile, it’s not the size of the pack but the heart within.
That’s the mentality Australia’s maligned forwards will carry into the toughest Test of their European rugby tour against England this weekend.
The Wallabies’ scrum has been under much scrutiny during the European tour and, while it has stood up well at times to the might of Wales, France and Ireland, a vulnerability late in games remains a concern.
That could spell trouble against the English forward pack, which is renowned as the best in the world at the set-piece and could carry close to a 40-kilogram weight advantage into this week’s battle at Twickenham. ‘‘We’re probably not the biggest team running around, so physically looking at us, we’re probably not that intimidating,’’ Australian prop James Slipper said.
‘‘But the heart of some of the players in this team, we’ll do anything to get a win and if that means putting our body on the line, we’ll do it.’’
With young props Kieran Brookes and Matt Mullan providing huge impact off the bench, Slipper knows the Wallabies must find the consistency that has eluded them of late.
‘‘We need to put a good 80 minutes together,’’ Slipper said.
‘‘The scrum for us is about laying a platform for the backs and showing we’re up for a physical battle, which we know we’re going to get.’’