Laurie Fisher: Can Wallabies win five on the trot?

Laurie Fisher has questioned the Wallabies‘ ability to turn up for consecutive big games ahead of two gruelling weeks in the Pool of Death.
The Green and Golds kicked off their World Cup campaign with two wings against Fiji and Uruguay but their chances of lifting a third Webb Ellis trophy will be put to the test over the next two weeks as they take on England and Wales at Twickenham.
Back in August, the Wallabies stunned the All Blacks in Sydney but their 27-19 win turned into a 41-13 defeat in Auckland the following week.
David Pocock and Michael Hooper were the masterminds of that famous win in Sydney and on Wednesday the two opensides started together again, with Pocock scoring twice from dominant driving mauls – something Gloucester forwards coach Fisher, his former boss at Brumbies, was pleased to see.
“I’m worried about Australia‘s capacity to play big games week on week,” Fisher exclusively told The Rugby Paper.
“They have to win five massive games in order to win the World Cup and I’m not sure they have the physical and mental capacity to be up for that.
“They have not been able to do that for the past six or seven years and it happened again against the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup.
“I hope they’ve learnt from that and they have the right coach and captain to minimise the chances of that happening again.”
Having now coached for a season in the Premiership Fisher is all to aware of how important the scrum is in the Northern Hemisphere.
“Another concern is that they have a tendency to be too lateral at times looking to find the edges too early. They could do with being more physical – it’s what they need against the big Northern Hemisphere teams,” Fisher added.
“You can’t win a World Cup without an efficient driving maul so it was pleasing to see them score from rolling mauls. They look on par with the other tier one nations and that gives them an extra edge.
“With the likes of Israel Folau and Tevita Kuridrani they have backs that can win you games but they won’t if the forwards don’t set a good platform.
“David Pocock and Michael Hooper looked good together in that back- row and I expect to see that same 23 that beat Fiji play in all the important games. I think we saw what Michael Cheika believes to be his best team on Wednesday.”
Fisher agrees with Cheika’s view that if Australia can win all their games, bonus points won’t matter.
He said: “Their mindset will be to win all four and top the pool. Whether they score three or ten tries doesn’t matter. Win the pool and move on.
“With Fiji and Uruguay in their first two games before the two clashes against England and Wales, they have the chance to grow into the competition. They were never going to be at their best straight up.
“If look at the game alone it was disappointing not to get the bonus point when you score your third try 44 minutes into the game but in the grand scheme of things it was a good start to a long competition.
“There’s no point playing a game you’re not going to sustain against the top sides. There’s no point playing a fancy game in the pools because in the knock-outs it’ll be all about kicking, mauling and scrummaging. That’s what they need to do to win the tournament.
“History shows the side that wins the World Cup does so going undefeated. As long as they keep winning they’ll be okay. But do they have the capacity to do that?”
NICK VERDIER