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Sheens warns he’ll shuffle his pack to thwart England’s aces Glenn Jackson
October 26, 2010THEY were bruised by a pack of relative unknowns on Sunday, but Australia’s forwards have vowed to rise to the new challenge that awaits them - a confrontation with two players they know much more about, Gareth Ellis and Sam Burgess.
The Kangaroos pack has been given a red rag in the form of the decree by their coach Tim Sheens that they are on notice ahead of the clash with England on Sunday - but also because of the increasing belief that the English pair are the best forwards in the world.
It is difficult to predict which statement would be taken with more disdain by an Australian forward; that he is expendable, or that the blokes in the other side are better.
‘‘This is a challenge for us as a pack,’’ prop Petero Civoniceva said yesterday. ''Tim has spoken to us already. He’s spoken to us as a forward pack about what we need to get done. He’s made us aware right from day one that no one’s position is safe, and that’s really hit home to a lot of us.
‘‘We know the challenge that’s ahead of us. We’ve got that star-studded back line and for us to be able to build some momentum so that they can work off it, it’s important that we get our job done. It’s a huge weight on our shoulders, a massive responsibility, but one we’ll be ready for.’’
Burgess and Ellis stand in their way, having both excelled in the NRL, the former in one season with South Sydney and the latter over two with Wests Tigers. The always generous Civoniceva said the fact they had become two of the best forwards in the NRL so soon in their careers in Australia was ‘‘testament to the fact that they’re fantastic footballers’’.
‘‘Having the knowledge of us more personally than in seasons past, they’ll be ready for us, most definitely,’’ the Penrith prop said. ‘‘But as a pack, we’ll be ready as well.’’
Burgess effectively announced himself to the Australians in last year’s final, scoring two tries in a dominant performance in a losing side. ‘‘He’s just a powerhouse,’’ Civoniceva said. ‘‘I think he stepped past me, stepped past a few of us in that great try in the final. He’s got that ability to turn nothing into something.’’
The English have been stung by not only the loss of their captain, another player well known to the NRL in former Sydney Rooster Adrian Morley, but also the first-up defeat at the hands of New Zealand. Having witnessed what Burgess and Ellis can do on a weekly basis, the Kangaroos are wary of predicting anything but a strong display by the chided English pack.
‘‘They’re both superstars,’’ back-rower Anthony Watmough said. ‘‘Sammy’s come over to the NRL and he’s had a massive impact. He’s a hundred and something kilos and can run fast. We’ve got to watch them. They’ll be running hard and strong. We’ve just got to get in front and stop them. But I’ll back our boys any day.’’
Said Paul Gallen: ‘‘You’ve got to give credit to them, they probably are [the best back-rowers in the world]. It’s going to be a big test for us. These are the games that you want to play in, against the best players. This is what’s going to test Australia’s forward pack. Obviously a lot’s been said about them, and we have to match them for our backs to be able to score tries.’’
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Aussie boys must quit whingeing - Steve Roach
- Dean Ritchie
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- October 29, 2010 12:00AM
STEVE “Blocker” Roach last night accused the Kangaroos of becoming whingeing Poms.
Roach, who played 18 Test matches, said he was “taken aback” after Australian players publicly claimed they were bashed and battered in last year’s Four Nations match against England in Wigan.
Roach said Australia’s forwards shouldn’t complain - just get even.
In yesterday’s The Daily Telegraph, the Kangaroos claimed they were victims of “dog acts” and “cheap shots” in a fiery and nasty match last year.
“If they do it again, it’s time to square the ledger. If they want to dance, then let’s dance,” Roach said.
"I was actually a bit taken back by the Australians’ comments. I have never heard Australians whinge before.
"We normally leave that to the Poms. I thought the Aussies would have expected it (some roughhouse tactics). It’s par for the course - it is a Test match after all.
“Let’s get down and dirty. That’s the way it is.”
Roach’s comments come as Brent Tate (neck) and Anthony Watmough (groin) battle to be fit for the big match. The team will be announced today.
Desperate England will no doubt attempt to rattle Australia with the same tactics on Sunday night in Melbourne - the Poms realising a standard game plan could result in a heavy loss.
“They have to upset the apple cart,” Roach said.
“If England play a sanitised style like we do here or they do in Super League, they will get eaten alive. We will wipe them out. They have to put us off our game.”
Former Australian forward David Gillespie was another to suggest the Kangaroos must “fight fire with fire.”
“There might be a few elbows flying around,” Gillespie said.
"But you expect that.
"It’s well documented the Poms haven’t won a trophy for 40 years.
“They will come out firing. If they throw something at us, then we have to fight fire with fire.”
Meanwhile veteran English prop Stuart Fielden claims to have forgotten being knocked out cold by Willie Mason in a Test back in 2006.
And Fielden said he was wasn’t interested in trying to exact any revenge four years later.
“There will be no flashbacks as far as I am concerned,” Fielden told British media. "What’s happened, has happened. The famous saying is ‘you can’t change the past’ - and you can’t.
“It’s about what you do in the now. And in the now I just want to work as hard and play as well as I can”
- REFEREE Richard Silverwood has a leg injury and will not control the New Zealand-PNG Test.
He will be replaced by Australian referee Ben Cummins. Matt Cecchin will now be stand-by referee for the Australia-England Test.
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Sheens warns he’ll shuffle his pack to thwart England’s aces’
Sheens…. shuffle his forward pack…nah never…
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Roach’s comments come as Brent Tate (neck) and Anthony Watmough (groin) battle to be fit for the big match. The team will be announced today.
What time is the Team usually Named???
Will Lote Be retained???
Will Lawrence be included???
Will Fitzy get a shock inclusion on the Bench???
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Will Fitzy get a shock inclusion on the Bench???
and score the winning try a la canberra?
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What time is the Team usually Named???
3.45pm
Will Lote Be retained???
Of course
Will Lawrence be included???
If Sheens is fair dinkum
Will Fitzy get a shock inclusion on the Bench???
No
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I do hope its a tough bruising encounter.
blood will be spilt. :wahoo:
in saying that, I do not want Gareth to get injured.
as for the other game, it would be pleasing to see the PNG “Kumuls” score some points.
if they are close and no chance of breaking the Kiwi’s defence, then go for a field goal.
at least it is a point, and they won’t be beaten to zero… -
http://www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticle/tabid/10874/newsid/60742/australia-names-team-to-face-england/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
nope no Lawrence, and Dean Young is the 18th man……pressure from that playing favourites crap?
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Sheens wary of ‘dangerous’ England team
Stathi Paxinos
October 30, 2010AUSTRALIAN coach Tim Sheens believes England could have found its Billy Slater-factor with its move of Sam Tomkins to full-back for the Four Nations clash at AAMI Park tomorrow.
And the Australians, which yesterday announced the same line-up that beat Papua New Guinea last weekend, were aware of the consequences of an unexpected loss tomorrow with both Sheens and veteran captain Darren Lockyer saying they did not fancy travelling to Auckland to beat New Zealand at Eden Park with their final hopes still on the line.
England coach Steve McNamara included three debutants and made 11 changes, including positional, to the team that performed poorly against New Zealand last weekend.
Advertisement: Story continues belowSheens, who was not surprised by most of the changes, said England appeared a much stronger team especially with Tomkins’ pace at full-back, where he will replace Melbourne Storm’s Gareth Widdop, and back-rower Sam Burgesswill change to prop.
‘‘I think some of the changes are very, very good and very dangerous for us,’’ Sheens said.
‘‘The tough thing for us really is that we only know a handful of them from the point of view of having played with them in Australia or against them last year in the Four Nations so that not knowing is always a concern for me as a coach so we’ve really tried to focus hard on the few that we do know and concentrate on our own preparation.’’
The Australian camp expected Tomkins’ switch from the halves to full-back and Sheens believes the 21-year-old has the ability to cause immense problems for his team saying that he ‘‘adds the Slater factor that they probably needed’’.
‘’[It will be] a little bit more flamboyant with the kid at the back,’’ Sheens said. ''I don’t think young Gareth [Widdop] brought that sort of speed.
‘‘He’s a fiery little thing too and has plenty of go in him … we’ll have to control the kicking game and give him limited opportunities.’’
McNamara agreed that Tomkins, who played both five-eighth and full-back for Wigan this year, brought the X-factor for his team.
‘‘Sam’s a fantastic runner and he can play in a few different positions but we want to get Sam out of that role [halves] and give him some opportunities to run the ball more which he is very, very good at, so we think that is probably the best way to that this week,’’ he said.
''He’s comfortable playing both positions but I just think with his extra speed and his ability to beat people will give us a nice few options in offence.
‘‘People in Super League have tried to bash him around all year and … he avoids contact pretty much all of the time but when he takes it he’s one of those rubbery blokes who just bounces back up again so he’s a really tough competitor and I’m glad he’s in our team.’’
However, he said Widdop had been unlucky to be dropped.
‘‘It’s very rare for an international footballer to get a hold on a position from a very young age and never suffer any sort of disappointment there. Gareth’s suffering from that but he’ll be around for years to come I’m sure,’’ McNamara said.
Meanwhile, Lockyer said the team would be addressing any thoughts that tomorrow’s game would be a sure thing, voicing concern about the ‘‘flat build-up’’ for the game in the public arena.
‘‘I just know from experience that sometimes if it’s not addressed then you’re setting yourself up for a fall,’’ Lockyer said.
‘‘If I put myself ahead to Monday and we’re at the airport and we’ve come off a bad performance and we’ve lost the game, the pressure’s really on then. That’s why this week we [have to] put in our best performance. That will not only be good for our confidence going forward but we just want to be going across to Auckland with the pressure off us.’’
But Sheens agreed that there could be a factor of ‘‘they have to win and we want to win’’ and that the Australians were without some key strike weapons.
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