Share

Oz ready for Azzurri scrum

Auckland - Australia are reaping the benefits of pre-World Cup scrum camps and their front row are ready to meet fire with fire in their tournament opener against Italy, prop Ben Alexander said on Wednesday.

Click to BUY the Rugby World Cup 2011 Game for Xbox

Click to BUY the new Drifta Mobile USB Decoder

While boasting an exciting backline featuring creative halfbacks Quade Cooper and Will Genia, the Tri-Nations champions have always been criticised for their lack of strength in the front row.

Four years ago, they were bullied out of the World Cup by England in the quarter-finals and on Sunday, in their Pool C match at North Harbour Stadium in Albany, they are sure to receive a rough examination from a beefy Italian pack, who are notoriously strong scrummagers.

"We have totally got great faith in how we scrummage," Alexander told reporters at the team's hotel in Auckland on Wednesday.

"We want to be the best team in the world and the best team need the best pack and that's all we need to spur us on.

"We want to go out there, we want to do the job so we get the win and that's it. Obviously the criticisms hurt you when you first start hearing them but it doesn't bother us anymore. We move on."

Alexander's confidence follows a series of scrum camps with former Argentina and Australian prop Patricio Noriega, now the Wallabies scrum coach.

"It was just good for the blokes who weren't playing (Super Rugby) finals to keep their scrum volume up, so we were ready to hit the ground running," Alexander said of the scrum camps.

"We had a real technical emphasis on that because we had a lot of downtime to... worry about scrums.

"It is hard when you are in a team environment where you have to do lineouts, restarts and breakdowns to dedicate a large time to scrums because it detracts from other parts of your game.

"So during those scrum camps it was great, two hour sessions a day."

The last time Australia met Italy was in November in Florence when the Wallabies ran out 32-14 winners, but only after being thoroughly dominated in the scrums.

Alexander and hooker Stephen Moore both started that match and the Brumbies prop, who will be joined by loosehead Sekope Kepu in the front row for Sunday's game, was wary of the Azzurri enjoying similar domination.

"Obviously their scrummaging is very good, their mauling is very good and just all the forward encounters are very good," Alexander said.

"If they win those areas it flows on the rest of their game so that's the areas we've been focussing on and looking to nullify.

"We just need to front up physically. They are a physical side the Italians and if you want to beat fire you have to meet it with fire, so we are very focused on the physical side of things for this Sunday."

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
25% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1473 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2252 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE