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'I'll do my very best': Wallabies reliant on out-of-position star against England
By AAP
He's come back from countless injuries and even bounced back from a drugs ban but after 112 tests, James Slipper still seems indestructible - and Australian rugby can never have been more thankful.
Amid a chaotic test week before their marquee tour match against England which has seen the Wallabies' front-row stocks desperately depleted, it's been up to one of world rugby's great survivors to prove his worth yet again.
Asked to switch from his usual loosehead prop position to the other side of the scrum to face the might of the English pack again, you get no complaints from 32-year-old Slipper.
Instead, he just dusts down a battered body and promises with a smile: "I am a loosehead, but I feel I can back myself at tighthead - and one thing I know is that I'll do my very best for the country."
Australia expects nothing less. Last Sunday, the loss to Scotland was a painful reminder of his tighthead past when the loss of Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou to head knocks forced him to show the sort of propping versatility mid-game that he's so often shown for the Brumbies.
And with both specialists out of the running for the England match, coach Dave Rennie had no hesitation in turning to 'Slips'.
"The lower back gets pretty tender," conceded Slipper, reflecting on a bad day at the office on Sunday.
"It's funny because at loosehead, you get a bit more pressure through the neck whereas at tighthead, it's more through the back.
"So I definitely pulled up pretty sore afterwards.
"I can't say I'm feeling that great - but I will be come game time, mate."
Nobody knows that coalface recovery process better apart from perhaps the only five props who've earned more test caps than Slipper - Gethin Jenkins (Wales and the British & Irish Lions, 134), Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy, 119), Jason Leonard (England & Lions, 119), Tony Woodcock (New Zealand, 118) and Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa, 117).
At the other end of the experience scale, London Irish prop Ollie Hoskins, the former Western Force forward who's not played in Australia for five years, has been chucked in the deep end for a prospective debut off the bench.
"It's pretty wild, hard to put into words how I feel," Hoskins told the BBC. "I'm going to lap up the experience."
Thinking back to when he first joined the English Premiership club, Hoskins recalled: "I was in a difficult place in my career when I joined. I'd been playing for my childhood, hometown club and they'd let me go and told me I wasn't good enough.
"Irish gave me a chance and I've revamped my life over here. I've settled roots, met my wife over here, most of my extended family live here now, so it's given me a second opportunity."
Slipper has been quietly impressed. "Ollie's had a couple of days to train and upskill with all the moves and how we want to play the game. He's fitted in really well, so we're excited to give him an opportunity."
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Stephen Larkham, Mick Byrne, Scott Wisental, Ben Mowen, Les Kiss, Jim McKay, Rod Kafer.
There are plenty of great Australian coaches who could do a better job than Schmidt.
Go to commentsThis piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.
I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.
Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.
The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.
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