England’s cheerleaders are all Down Under

FORMER Wallabies coach Alan Jones has joined the growing chorus Down Under backing England to win the World Cup.

Last week, Australia's first World Cup-winning captain, Nick Farr-Jones, predicted Clive Woodward's men would beat the Wallabies in the final.

He did not believe New Zealand would last the pace and nor does Jones, who wrote the All Blacks off as being 'bruised by failure'.

But he struggled to find any weakness in an England side ranked as the world's number one team.

"England are an outfit that just seem as though they are going to walk up to the plate believing they can win. I don't think that's a weakness, I think that's a big strength," said Jones, who coached Australia at the 1987 World Cup.

"They have a formidable forward pack who play a very intimidating game, and they have a brilliant kicker.

"England can shift it as well, and with Ben Cohen and Jason Robinson you have very formidable strike people.

"If it pours with rain, they've got the game. If it's a beautiful hot summer's day, they can shift it as well. The legitimate concern is they may be too old. Do they have another World Cup in them?"

Jones insisted the current England set-up are tactically strong, capable of dictating the style of play and would not fall into a trap that proved costly in the 1991 final defeat to Australia.

"David Campese baited them by saying they can't run the ball, it was a very clever strategy. They said: 'We are going to prove we can run the ball', and they decided to shift it.

"They had Rob Andrew along with Michael Lynagh, the best tactical kicker with the ball but they failed to kick the ball and put the back three under pressure.

"Jonny Wilkinson is going to do that. He will read that and their back row is pretty quick."

The form guide would point to an England-New Zealand final in Sydney on November 22, but Jones warned the hangover from the All Blacks' stunning defeat by France four years ago will prove a major psychological barrier. That followed defeats in the 1991 semi-final by Australia and 1995 final by South Africa.

"I don't believe New Zealand are mentally ready to win this World Cup," he said.

"They have very good players, but I think they have been bruised by failure, and whether they have been able to purge themselves of that, I don't know."

Australian captain George Gregan has confirmed he will play for the ACT Brumbies in next season's Super 12 competition.

But the 30-year-old scrumhalf says he will not consider his international playing career until after the World Cup, which begins on October 10.

The Wallaby skipper is the most-capped scrumhalf in history with 89 Test starts, and is just 12 caps behind David Campese's Australian record.

Legendary All Blacks forward Colin Meads fears Australia and New Zealand have handed the advantage to their northern hemisphere rivals by going into the rugby World Cup under-done.

Meads, a fearsome lock for the All Blacks from 1957 to 1971 and later an All Blacks manager, said the lack of warm-up matches could prove costly when the World Cup starts in just over two weeks.

"I have a worry with the All Blacks they're not playing," Meads said.

"And the Aussies aren't playing either they're all in camps and that sort of thing.

"When the World Cup starts, I think it's going to be eight or nine weeks since they last played and to me, they've got it all wrong.

"The northern hemisphere teams are all playing and New Zealand and Australia are not playing and I think they should be.

"It's a southern hemisphere tournament and it's meant to suit us better than the northern hemisphere nations so from that point of view I think we've got it a little bit wrong."