Nick Farr-Jones: Wobbly pack is huge worry for Wallabies

 
Australia have a great track record of winning the World Cup in UK after victories in 1991 and 1999, but I just can’t see them clinching the hat-trick.
I’ve always thought that to win a World Cup, you need to have five players who pick themselves for a World XV at that time.
Then you need another five who would be on the fringes of that World’s best team.
Right now, based on the personnel and Australia’s ranking in the world, I would be amazed if they were to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy on October 31. However stranger things have happened.
Australia is still a work in progress because Michael Cheika hasn’t had a lot of time with the squad and doesn’t have a lot of time to go. I thought some of the scores in the Rugby Championship actually flattered the Wallabies.
We have some decent depth and have most positions covered. Clearly we have plenty of strength in the back-row with both Michael Hooper and David Pocock challenging each other for the number seven jersey and we have options right across the backline.
Cheika’s options have been enhanced by the shift in selection policy and I agree with what he has done. It makes sense to have your best players available to the national coach.
Any player that has played 60 Tests for the Wallabies has earned their stripes and done their bit for their country.
In return, they should be allowed a sojourn abroad to Europe or Japan, whether that’s for the experience of living abroad or for the money. They have done the hard yards so if they are available and still deemed as one of the best around in their position, then we’re in a good position to pick them, as long as the balance of the team remains right.
That has raised the question of whether Quade Cooper and Matt Giteau can play together in the same team or whether Cheika must make a choice. Personally, I don’t think the Wallabies coach is going to risk playing Cooper in the big games, starting against England and Wales.
He has come a long way over the years and has matured as a person. But he was forced to apologise for a [foul-mouthed] message on social media recently and I’ve seen him implode too many times in big games at the World Cup and Bledisloe Cup.
So when Australia face England and Wales in that Pool of Death, I just don’t think you can risk Cooper. He has lost the ability to play direct and appears a scatterbrain who pushes across far too much.
Cooper could play against Uruguay and Fiji because I get the feeling points-difference could be crucial in this group.
But for me, Bernard Foley is the main man at 10, a player who gives you structure for the guys outside him to attack, such as Giteau, who is one of the most experienced centres around in world rugby.
One thing going for Australia is playing away from the spotlight at home. Aussies love to tour and build wonderful spirit within the squad. They will feel very comfortable in the UK and playing in London, so the venues do not pose a threat.
In contrast there will be huge pressure on England as the host nation.
I was at Twickenham last November when they overpowered Australia and they looked strong in the Six Nations. But the pressure of hosting a World Cup is huge and sticking to their process, and not focussing on the scoreboard, will be critical.
Australia have consistently beaten Wales in recent years but this is the big one and Warren Gatland makes me nervous.
He’s a shrewd coach who will have Wales well prepared and as a former Kiwi hooker, he will know exactly where Australia’s soft spot is.
Getting the set-piece right has to be the priority for Cheika over the next two months because our Achilles heel remains the scrum as well as finding the right balance at the lineout.
When you look at the Northern Hemisphere teams, and for Australia that means England and Wales at this World Cup, they will relish the opportunity to beat us up at that time.
It’s not just that they take time and space from you, it’s the psychological advantage that is so important. We witnessed that in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final in Marseille when we were expected to win, but England turned us over at the first scrum. They got in our faces and that can really change a game.
I don’t fully understand the dark world of scrummaging, but what I do know from putting a million balls into scrums is that if you’re going backwards it’s a long and hard day.
We have the capacity in the backs to win a World Cup if we give them the time and space, but that’s where my antennae vibrate nervously.