Australia

Aussies confident of downing England

Thursday, November 05 Having struggled against their southern hemisphere rivals, the Wallabies have set their sights on their northern hemisphere foes and are confident that they can complete the first step of securing a historic Grand Slam by toppling England at Twickenham on Saturday.

The struggling Wallabies are currently on a horrid seven-match losing streak, their last victory being a shock 21-6 win over the Springboks back in September. England have been an equally under-achieving side, therefore both nations desperately need a victory to kick start a rebuilding phase. No one is more aware of that than newly appointed Wallaby captain, Rocky Elsom.

"I certainly wouldn't like the idea of us losing on the weekend," Elsom told AAP.

“It's pretty big for us. We were absolutely stinging for a win last weekend and that didn't come," said Elsom in reference to last weekend’s 19-32 loss to the All Blacks in Tokyo.

"Coming into the game there was probably a little bit of anxiety around the fact that we hadn't been able to notch one up against them (the All Blacks)," Elsom said.

"But, really, we had been a big part of the reason [for that] by not being able to execute the way we wanted to, which probably happened again."

Elsom said the Wallabies have been focusing on their own game rather than studying England ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

"Thinking about England probably wouldn't be at the top of our list just because we've got our own issues to worry about," Elsom said.

"New Zealand are no champions in the line-out area but they sort of exposed us a little bit just for the fact that our drill wasn't sharp enough.

"I think our scrum's going okay, but you've got to be able to produce that week in, week out.

"So we probably have to look a bit more at ourselves than England."

Former World Cup-winning Wallaby skipper John Eales feels that, despite the Wallabies' recent poor run, they have the potential to emulate the legendary squad of 1984 that clinched a Grand Slam.

"I'm an optimist, I always was when I played and believed we could win every game that we played and I still believe the Wallabies can win every game that they play," Eales told AAP.

"If we can do really well on this tour I think we're in great shape actually and much better than what most people think.

"Of course it's not going to be easy ... England this week [on Saturday], they're not at full strength, but England at Twickenham are always hard, and I think Wales and Ireland in particular are going to be big challenges for us."

It all starts with a victory over England on Saturday, a fact that Eales points out will put a considerable amount of added pressure on the Wallabies.

It's so important," Eales said. "It would be a big, big dampener, even more than losing [in Tokyo] last week.

"It would be a big dampener not to win this week so there is a fair bit of pressure on them."

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