Moore appeals to team leaders to lift Oz

Sydney - Skipper Stephen Moore appealed to the Wallabies leadership group on Monday to lift the beleaguered team as they try to prevent an ignominious series whitewash to England.

The Wallabies are staring at the prospect of a 3-0 series defeat to the Six Nations champions in Sydney on Saturday after losing the first two Tests in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Australia's senior players have been criticised over their decision-making and failure to vary tactics in order to find a way through England's well-disciplined defence in last weekend's 23-7 loss in Melbourne.

"We're down 2-0 down. Most people are looking at the big things and I think it's actually the detail of the game, everyone doing their role really well that makes a difference at this level," Moore told reporters.

"It's just those tiny little things that might have been a little bit off on the weekend that we need to fix up.

"As leaders we've got to drive that and make sure our communication on the field is spot on, so that we know what we're going to do in every situation."

Michael Cheika said after Saturday's defeat that as head coach it was up to him to make sure forcefully that the message from the Australian coaching staff got across to the playing group.

When skipper Moore was replaced after 55 minutes, flanker Michael Hooper took over the captaincy for the closing stages as the Australians, trailing 13-7, tried to batter their way over for a crucial try.

Moore supported Hooper, who has been queried for turning down penalty kicks at goal to go after tries instead.

"This is the time when you'd like to think that it (the leadership) comes out the most, be it the coaching staff or the senior players," Moore said.

"We've got to show that leadership this week and make sure that we prepare as well as we ever have this week.

"That we're motivated as well as we can be, because it's another opportunity for us to perform. So that's really the be-all and end-all for us."