Rugby Union: England rely too much on Wilkinson

Queensland 14 England 39: Woodward's tourists use ball well but experienced Australians have already noted areas of weakness

ONCE UPON a time, no self-respecting Australian coach would have expressed the opinion that an English touring team had "three or four glaring areas of concern to address" without expanding on his theme by adding: "Lack of fitness, lack of pace, lack of guts and lack of talent". The Wallabies talk a more restrained game of rugby these days, but Clive Woodward's party should not be fooled by the new diplomacy. The senior Queenslanders who encountered England in Saturday night's Centenary Test warm-up at Ballymore were distinctly underwhelmed by what they saw.

Michael Foley, the Reds' captain who was recently fined around pounds 200 for thumping one of his team-mates in a Brisbane bar, found the English front row far too conciliatory for his liking, perhaps because there was only one bout of handbag-swinging. "They'll probably look for a more aggressive performance next weekend," he said, his tone shot through with disappointment. "It seemed to me that they were happy to settle for a break-even."

And then there was the respected Queensland coach, John Connolly, whose nickname of "Knuckles" tends to suggest that his rugby philosophy has something in common with that of his skipper. "I'll tell you this," he whispered en route to the after-match formalities. "If England go into the Sydney Test with that defensive formation and give the Wallaby wings that amount of space, they'll catch one hell of a cold. In fact, there are three or four things that urgently need looking at and I hope they spot them, because the Wallabies definitely will."

Connolly had no desire to do Woodward's job for him by going into specifics, but it hardly required the services of a sporting astro-physicist to work out where he was coming from. It was blindingly obvious in Brisbane that England were too quiet by half at the set-piece, vulnerable at the rear of the line-out (Lawrence Dallaglio's enforced absence from the tail- gunning role could be ruthlessly exploited by the rangy Matt Cockbain this weekend) and wholly dependent on the security of Jonny Wilkinson's midfield defence.

Wilkinson shouldered far too many tackling responsibilities against Queensland, shifting from outside-half to the more exposed inside-centre position every time the opposition won themselves some restart possession. The net result of those frailties was that England spent three-quarters of the game - a conservative estimate - in and around their own 22. Richard Hill, by some distance the most accomplished tourist on view, made no fewer than 16 first-up tackles in the opening 40 minutes alone and, had the Saracens flanker been even a notch off his game, Queensland's second- stringers might well have caused some real damage. They may have been without Ben Tune, Tim Horan, Nathan Spooner, John Eales and their entire back row, but they still managed to win the second half 14-12.

Woodward did not need reminding of Hill's contribution when he analysed the Ballymore proceedings yesterday. "Whoever nominated him for the man of the match award was bang on the money," agreed the coach. "Our defence was a big bonus all round; according to the statistics, we made 85 per cent of our tackles. But Hill's performance proved that he's right up there with the best loose forwards in the world. Dallaglio and Neil Back have won a lot of the plaudits over the last couple of years but in many ways, Richard has allowed them to play. Basically, he gets us the ball."

To England's credit, they used some of that ball spectacularly well; Dan Luger and Leon Lloyd both ran in 40-metre tries in the opening quarter and given the lack of finishing during the Five Nations, the sight of two white-shirted wings arrowing down the touchlines bordered on the blissful. Luger produced a very passable impersonation of Maurice Greene on rocket fuel as he took explosive advantage of a clever left-field break from Kyran Bracken 12 minutes in, and, when Wilkinson then caught the Queensland defence flat-footed by running a penalty from his own 22, Lloyd cruised into the distance to put the tourists 17 points ahead.

Indeed, the Leicester wing celebrated with a second try before half- time; Wilkinson was heavily involved once again, aided and abetted by the ever-alert Matt Perry. But Lloyd found the second period far more troubling as Elton Flatley, a former Wallaby stand-off with more vision than the Hubble telescope, teased him unmericifully with a series of hanging diagonal kicks. Rick Nalatu, a former Australian sprint champion, also gave the 21-year-old Tiger a serious hurry-up and it may well be that Woodward recalls David Rees to arms for the big one in Sydney's new Olympic Stadium.

"David has played next to no rugby; I really don't know when he last put in a full 80 minutes," said the coach. "But he came on a tremendous amount during the training camp on South Stradbroke Island and he's available for selection.

"The right wing position is going to be a big call for us and I intend to sleep on it before making a decision, but David is a proven Test player and there's something about him when he pulls on an England shirt." In other words, Lloyd will have to wait a little longer for his first cap.

There are unlikely to be further changes. Jeremy Guscott marked his return to national colours with a characteristically nonchalant second-half try - "It just underlines how badly we missed him when we lost to Wales," groaned Woodward - and there seems little doubt that Bracken will hold off the challenge of Matt Dawson at scrum-half. Apparently, the same goes for Darren Garforth, whose battle with Victor Ubogu for the tight-head berth promises to be one of the more entertaining feature of England's World Cup preparations.

Ubogu emerged from the dug-out to claim England's fifth and final try, but the coach remains deeply suspicious of the bar-owning wide boy's fitness. "I don't think he's ready to last a full 80 minutes," said Woodward damningly, before adding with a mischievous smirk: "But then, we could start the Test with him and pull him off before the end." Either way, Victor is back at the races, two years after being put out to grass.

Queensland: Tries Gordon, Watkins; Conversions Flatley 2. England: Tries Lloyd 2, Luger, Guscott, Ubogu; Conversions Wilkinson 4; Penalties Wilkinson 2.

Queensland: N Williams; D Smith, R West, K Gordon, R Nalatu; E Flatley, S Cordingley; N Stiles, M Foley (capt), A Heath, B Cockbain, N Sharpe, J Stafford, M Connors, M Murray. Replacements: M Mitchell for Cockbain, 58; B Cannon for Foley, 60; R Graham for Williams, 60; L Hammond for Stafford, 63; J Watkins for Heath, 72; T Sampson for Gordon 75; J Rauluni for Cordingley, 75.

ENGLAND: M Perry (Bath); L Lloyd (Leicester), J Guscott (Bath), M Catt (Bath), D Luger (Saracens); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), K Bracken (Saracens); J Leonard (Harlequins), R Cockerill (Leicester), D Garforth (Leicester), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), T Rodber (Northampton), R Hill (Saracens), M Corry (Leicester), N Back (Leicester). Replacements: M Tindall (Bath) for Guscott, 56; M Dawson (Northampton) for Bracken, 56; P Greening (Sale) for Cockerill, 56; D Grewcock (Saracens) for Rodber, 56; A Healey (Leicester) for Perry, 69; V Ubogu (Bath) for Garforth, 69; J Worsley (Wasps) for Back, 69.

Referee: S Dickinson (Australia).