Aussies keen to ambush Bok line-outs
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:38
Brains trust: Aussie assistant coach Jim Williams with Robbie Deans and Stirling Mortlock
Australian assistant coach Jim Williams is confident that Australia will compete well with the under-fire Springboks, especially in the line-outs, when the two teams clash in their Tri-Nations encounter in Durban on Saturday.
The Aussies have been training well and looked sharp in their sessions at Bishops school in Cape Town this week.
It has been obvious that the Wallabies have been spending plenty of time in fine-tuning their line-out, with star lock Dan Vickerman prominent in the work-outs on the rugby fields of his old alma mater.
And assistant coach Williams feels that his charges have ironed out the kinks that cost them plenty of line-out possession in their 10-39 loss to New Zealand in Auckland, despite not having the services of line-out specialist Nathan Sharpe, who was controversially left out of the Aussie touring squad to South Africa.
The Wallabies will in all probability be looking to South African-born Dan Vickerman, lock James Horwill and flank Rocky Elsom as their main options in the line-out.
"We'll have to get it right against the Boks on Saturday in the line-outs, there'll be no excuses," he stated.
"We struggled of course against the All Blacks in Auckland last time round, and we went back and looked at the basics. We are focusing on improving our accuracy with lifting, throwing and catching, as well as just trying to refine that timing that is needed.
"You know the line-outs require a lot of precise timing. If you're just slightly off, it all goes astray, so we've been working on that.
"But yeah, the boys are really looking forward to it, Dan Vickerman has been looking sharp and we'll be ready to take on the Boks for sure."
Ironically, Williams was in action for Australia the last time they won a Test match in South Africa in 2000, a match which was also played in Durban.
He looked back at the Springboks performance against the All Blacks last weekend, and gave his verdict on SA's 0-19 loss at Newlands.
"I think the Boks worked extremely hard but it seamed that New Zealand got the better of them with their tactical kicking.
"At the same time some of the Boks were guilty of not kicking the ball out, and turning over possession to the All Blacks.
"If the Boks had kicked more to touch, they could have used their line-out much more, which usually is a good weapon for them," he said.
Despite all the positivity over the Aussie line-outs, there could still be some problems for them in that department as injury clouds still hang over two key men in their line-out.
Lock James Horwill and flank Rocky Elsom were limited to light training sessions on Monday, with both players struggling with foot injuries.
The pair did however participate in full training on Tuesday, and Williams reported that neither suffered any ill-effects from that session thus far.
"They're both doing well and recovering strongly," replied the coach.
"Both James and Rocky trained with us yesterday, and they both came through that with no problems.
"We'll continue to assess both those players, and our medical guys will make further calls on them further down the line.
"They're both definitely still in contention, but we'll see probably tomorrow [Thursday] whether they will be fit enough to be included for Saturday's game, so we'll make a call on that when the time comes."
On the issue of South Africa's troubles at the breakdown, Williams warned that it was not only the Boks, but also his own Wallabies team that have suffered at the hands of the All Black loose forwards, and in particular Richie McCaw.
Williams gave his views on the role of the openside flank, and reiterated comments made earlier in the week by Aussie fetcher Phil Waugh that flanks should try and read the referee to get as much advantage as they could.
"Well I think firstly Richie McCaw is a fantastic player, he's just so good at what he does," said Williams, before adding: "He's quite a tall bloke [for an openside flank] but gets in there so quickly.
"I think it is really part of a fetcher's make-up to read situations and use their judgement on how to play the breakdown. If you're operating on the legal limit of the law, you're doing a great job for your team, and that's not an easy thing to do.
"But someone like McCaw is usually first at the breakdown, or he's the tackler, and he gets on his feet as quickly as anyone.
"I feel that the player first to the breakdown should enjoy certain privilege as to playing the ball. Because he has been the sharpest to the point of breakdown he should be able to get the benefit from the referee, and be rewarded for his endeavour.
"Of course it's such an important part of the game. Under Robbie [Deans] we've also worked hard on certain aspects," he concluded.
By Phil Coetzer
