England ready for tricky Aus scrum

 

The scrum has been repeatedly exposed as the Wallabies' weakness and head coach Stuart Lancaster has outlined his aim of pressurising the Wallabies in a department of the game that is a source of England's strength.

 

However, according to assistant coach Rowntree it will not be as easy as that with the coach expecting the Southern Hemisphere giants to use cunning and 'canny' tricks.

 

 "I don't trust Australia, they're a canny team Always have been," Rowntree said.

 

 "They're one of the most difficult teams to analyse in any week, but particularly in the last game of this series because they've lost their last two matches.

 

"I have so much respect for their coach Michael Cheika. He's a wise, smart, coach and I'm sure there will be a few tricks up their sleeves, as there always are against Australia.

 

Rowntree says there is no reason to believe that the Wallabies will struggle at scrum time, despite the English forwards being one of the only positives for the Red Roses.

 

"I don't trust the notion that they'll potentially struggle in the set piece. Any time that has been said about them, they've proved us wrong. They're clever tactically. 

 

"They set you up for things and then do something completely different.

 

"Around set-piece and line-out time, I'm sure they'll have a few sneaks ready."

 

Rowntree may have bee happy to talk up the Australian pack, but he did have some praise for his own forwards, especially David Wilson and Joe Marler.

 

“Our props have done well, they’ve grown in stature with experience and are very dependable now,” Rowntree said

 

“They are class props. They’re durable as well because it’s a tough job doing what they are doing in the Test arena. 

 

"They’ve both grown into their roles. In the past few years David has played a bit-part role for us off the bench, but he’s been the mainstay for us over the last 10 months.