It has been a depressing start to the sporting week from an Australian perspective. Not for 29 years have their cricketers suffered such a convincing defeat to India in a Test series and the touring Wallabies awoke in a rain-lashed London having already lost two players through injury. An England win at Twickenham this Saturday would be another blow to self-esteem.
Australia name their starting line-up today and are more dangerous opponents for Martin Johnson's new-look England than people think. Never mind the fact they struggled to beat Italy 30-20 in Padova and allowed New Zealand to overhaul them in the Bledisloe Cup encounter in Hong Kong. More than anything else these Australians want to atone for their union World Cup defeat to England in Marseille 13 months ago.
It was Berrick Barnes, the gifted young outside-half whose damaged right knee has ended his tour prematurely, who best summed up Wallaby emotions while reflecting on his own disappointment. "I would have dearly loved to have been involved - having played in that game last year and then sat in the stands watching Jonny [Wilkinson] kick them into the final it was something I'd set my sights on. I'm not saying we took them lightly last year but we probably weren't as 'on' mentally as we could have been. That won't be an issue this weekend. I don't think we'll be taking this one lightly."
In short, the Wallabies are bang up for it. Their front-row forwards, in particular, have been unimpressed to pitch up in the northern hemisphere and read yet more criticism of their scrummaging methods. They may have suffered a desperate experience at Twickenham in 2005 at the hands of Andrew Sheridan but their hooker Stephen Moore has stressed that significant improvements have been made. "We're happy with how we're going," said Moore, whose extra bulk has stiffened the spine of the Wallabies' scrum since his first start in 2006. "We've got confidence in each other and a belief we can go out and get a result against the best packs.
"Sheridan can be a destructive force but so are a lot of other looseheads. We've got to address Sheridan and the rest of their front row but we haven't talked more about him than we would any other loosehead. We've worked on scrummaging more consistently against the best packs and we've also got Michael Foley who's coached at Bath and knows a few of the English players pretty well. That's a benefit and something we didn't have against the Italians last week."
There were also early signs against the All Blacks that Australia can attack with considerable purpose, even if the loss of the in-form Barnes and Timana Tahu (hamstring) is untimely. Ryan Cross and Stirling Mortlock are set to resume their muscular midfield partnership, with Matt Giteau back as the starting No10. "We won't disrespect England," said Giteau, clearly keen to pit himself against England's new ringmaster, Danny Cipriani.
Johnson, for his part, is respectful of Robbie Deans' tactical nous and will need to ensure his pack keep the visitors firmly on the back foot. England, however, are set to continue with the athletic Leicester's Tom Croft in the back row, a sign they want to build on the attacking promise shown in Saturday's five-try win over the Pacific Islanders. Gloucester's Luke Narraway is still unfit but Sale's Mathew Tait is now back in training. The Northampton wing Sean Lamont, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the rest of Scotland's autumn Test programme with a hamstring injury.
