Monday 01st October 2007
Australia wing Drew Mitchell is expecting to be targeted by England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final in Marseille.
Mitchell is arguably the form player of the tournament and has already scored seven tries in this tournament, just one short of Jonah Lomu's record for a World Cup, set in 1999.
But the young Western Force star is regarded by some opponents as being suspect under the high ball, and given England's predilection for kicking, Mitchell expects his nerves to be tested in the do-or-die clash.
"In the games they've played so far, that's the game plan they've gone in with - they've executed that," said Mitchell.
"If it's the high ball or whatever, we've just got to make sure we're on it at that time, and we execute it, and we get the ball and hold onto it.
"England are playing some good football at the moment, they're doing what they have to, and they'll be a tough opponent on Saturday."
Mitchell also acknowledged the speed and form of England wing Paul Sackey, who has collect four tries in his last two games.
"I guess he showed it against Tonga - iIf you give someone a small opportunity, he can run 80 metres and score," said the Australian.
Meanwhile, Wallaby lock Nathan Sharpe, who was cleared of an elbow injury suffered in the match against Canada, said revenge is not a motivator for the Australians in the rematch of the 2003 World Cup finalists.
"I think the pleasing thing about this quarter-final is that there is so much tradition between Australia and England. A lot of people talk about a rematch of the World Cup final I suppose, that will be spoken about during the week," Sharpe said.
"At the end of the week, that ledger's gone, we'll never get that back, it will be certainly nice to take England out of the World Cup
"That's the beauty of this World Cup, one of our two team will be heading home on Monday. We certainly don't want to be us."
No comments:
Post a Comment