Wannabees and party poopers

AUSTRALIA embark on their quest to become the first team to successfully defend the World Cup when they kick off rugby’s six-week extravaganza against Argentina here today.

The Wallabies, winners of the tournament in 1991 and 1999, will be desperate for a convincing victory in front of an estimated 83,000 crowd at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.

Anything less, and the doubts that have shrouded Australia’s preparations will come crowding in again.

Though champions four years ago, the Wallabies have struggled to recapture the formula which made them the best side in the world until the departure of captain John Eales and coach Rod Macqueen in 2001.

The past season has been an annus horriblis for coach Eddie Jones, who saw his team lose to England on home soil for the first time in June before New Zealand waltzed off with the Tri-Nations crown and Bledisloe Cup.

Both Jones and Wallabies skipper George Gregan have shrugged off relentless sniping by former coaches and players and Gregan said his team were happy to be starting against Argentina, who were unlucky to be beaten 17-5 by Australia in a spiteful match in Buenos Aires last November.

“I like the idea of having a tough match to start,” said Gregan. “I think the way the guys have prepared, we’d all like a tough game.

“We’re ready to get into some good rugby and see where we are in terms of that with a good hard match.”

Gregan will partner Stephen Larkham at halfback in a team showing six changes from the side beaten 21-17 by New Zealand in their last game in August.

Wing Joe Roff has returned from injury to push Lote Tuqiri to the bench, while Matt Burke is the new outside centre, replacing Mat Rogers, who moves to full-back.

But it is the forwards which have been subject to the most wide-ranging changes, with prop Al Baxter winning his first full start, Nathan Sharpe filling in at lock and David Lyons replacing injured No. 8 Toutai Kefu.

With 325 caps to the Australian eight’s 153, Argentina’s fearsome scrummage is expected to give their opponents a searching examination.

Jones, however, is confident Australia possess enough firepower to cope.

“It’s a pretty young and exciting pack,” Jones said. “Playing Argentina is one of the great challenges for a forward and we’ve been working very hard on our scrum.

“Psychologically, the scrum is still pretty important for them. If you can take some points off them in that area then you can damage them a little bit.”

Pumas coach Marcelo Loffreda played down his team’s chances of dominating Australia up front. “All of them are not only prepared technically, but also mentally. It’s going to be a very strong challenge for the two packs of forwards,” he said

If Argentina's forwards succeed in cutting the supply of possession to the Wallaby backs, their chances of victory could well hinge on the goalkicking of Felipe Contepomi.

The flyhalf had a nightmare with the boot against Australia last year, missing seven of nine attempts at goal, but was nevertheless surprisingly chosen ahead of Gonzalo Quesada, the tournament top scorer from 1999.

Loffreda said Contepomi’s stronger defensive game had won him the nod.

In the meantime, the best ever prepared Irish rugby team will step out at Gosford’s Central Coast Stadium tomorrow evening (8am Irish time) for the first of four hurdles they must overcome in the coming weeks to earn a place at the business end of the rugby World Cup.

There’s been a noticeable increase in the focus and concentration of the 30-man-squad in recent days, and indeed there’s a tangible sense of tension in the air as Eddie O’Sullivan’s side prepare to make their tournament bow against Romania.

“The last time we played them they cause us a few problems because of their physicality and their strength,” said O’Sullivan. “They have pace and they’ve a grizzly pack with big strong ball carriers. If anything they've got better since last year and it’s the World Cup for them as well, they’ll want to put their best foot forward against Ireland.

“We expect a very, very physical game from them, they have a very strong scrum and a good line-out. Their set-piece is solid and they hold on to the ball for a lot of phases, they make you work hard to get it off them, they off-load in the tackle, which is what every coach in the world is trying to get their team to do. If they’re successful at that you’re going to have to work hard to pin them down.”

On the injury front, Marcus Horan is back to full fitness after resting his quad muscle earlier in the week, while John Hayes, who will start on the bench, has suffered no reaction after he scrummaged for the first time in six weeks last Tuesday.

The only question now is if Ireland can shoulder the expectation and put Romania to the sword. It would be perhaps a touch naïve to expect Ireland to fire on all cylinders in the first game of tournament but a performance like the first-half display against Romania last year would be extremely worrying.

But confidence in the squad is high and after three try-saturated warm-up games against Wales, Italy and Scotland, a 40 or 50 point scoreline, with a bonus point collected in the process, is well within the reach of Eddie O’Sullivan’s crew.

Any other scenario would be considered a huge disappointment.