England aiming to improve

Australia v England: England are wrestling with mixed emotions before today's second Test. The Telstra Dome is one of their favourite grounds, the scene of the memorable victory over Australia in June 2003, which rated among the finest efforts of the Clive Woodward era. The bad news is their least-favourite referee is back to haunt them.

So distrustful have England become of the New Zealander Steve Walsh that their head coach Andy Robinson, for the first time in six years, did not even bother attending the usual eve-of-game meeting to discuss technical issues. As coaches normally deem it essential to establish how the scrum and tackle areas will be refereed, Robinson's no-show looked distinctly like a deliberate snub.

Walsh and England have met in this city before, when the Kiwi, acting as the fourth official, had a heated altercation with England's fitness adviser Dave Reddin after the World Cup pool game against Samoa. Water was squirted, insults exchanged and Walsh was briefly suspended for "inappropriate behaviour". Last year he was banned again after verbally abusing Ireland's Shane Horgan when he queried a decision in the Lions' game against Taranaki.

Robinson's cold-shoulder treatment, however, is not entirely personal. He attended a meeting with Ireland's Alan Lewis in Sydney last week, sifted through every conceivable area of concern and then watched aghast as a debatable scrum penalty against Julian White led indirectly to the Wallabies' first try and, in England's view, turned the game.

"He will call it as he sees it on the day, as Alan Lewis did," said Robinson. "The referee's not going to win or lose us the game."

The alternative view is that England need all the help they can get to avoid a fifth successive Test defeat, their worst sequence since 1984. Antagonising the referee, even one with as chequered a track record as Walsh, is never the cleverest policy.

What does seem certain is England will offer a more direct threat than in Sydney following four changes to the pack and a couple more behind the scrum.

"The changes have been made for us to win the game, not to sit back and be happy coming second again. There was a lot of frustration about last week and quite a bit of anger," said Robinson, insisting the 34-3 scoreline had not been a fair reflection.

Whatever they say in public, England would privately settle for relinquishing the Cook Cup in return for identifying half-a-dozen players capable of forcing their way into next year's World Cup XV. Gloucester's Peter Richards and Sale's Chris Jones, as well as Mathew Tait and Tom Varndell, would hope to fit into that category, and George Chuter, starting a Test for the first time eight years after his A team debut, is another highly motivated possibility.

The Australians have been critical of the England this week, suggesting they posed little attacking threat, an opinion disputed by Iain Balshaw. "I think they were shell-shocked in the first half," said the fullback, who was held up over the try-line by George Gregan's important smother tackle. "We lost our way a bit in the second half but I certainly don't think we were predictable."

The fact remains Australia are unlikely to spill as much ball as last week and threaten to be more direct around the fringes with Sam Cordingley at scrumhalf. Lote Tuqiri and Stephen Larkham are class acts and the Wallabies will also be wiser at scrum time.

"I've got total belief we'll get through this whatever the result tomorrow," said Robinson, repeating his conviction England will be a different proposition next March. Today, though, one more double-digit defeat looms.

Guardian Service