Aussie coach says best yet to come from Larkham
After a season disrupted by injury and poor form, Larkham looked much more like his old self at Telstra Stadium last Friday as he helped put Argentina to the sword.
Mixing a neat close-kicking game with some excellent line breaks, the 29-year-old ACT Brumbies star ensured the Pumas were never able to get on a roll, a contribution which proved vital in Australia's 24-8 win.
And Coach Eddie Jones is predicting there is still much more to come from his star half-back.
"Stephen had three months out of the game with injury before he came back off the bench against South Africa in July," said Jones.
"He then played three Tri Nations matches and has now had eight weeks solid training, so I firmly believe we will start to see the best of him over the next two or three weeks.
Few expected Australia to reach the final of this year's competition given their recent poor form but if, as the player himself hopes, Larkham does manage to build on Friday night's performance they may yet go very close to recapturing the title.
"I seem to have got a bit of confidence back over the last few weeks but I know there is more to come, particularly in the kicking department," he said.
"It is an area I have been working on virtually every day for the past two months.
Elsewhere, Argentinean coach Marcelo Loffreda is annoyed with the International Rugby Board for presenting the Pumas with a World Cup schedule which he does not believe has taken any account of their seeding.
After opening the tournament on Friday, Argentina will be in action again on Tuesday, while Australia are not due to play again until Saturday. Group rivals Ireland also have an eight-day break between their first two games.
"I understand slightly with Australia because they are the hosts and holders but as the other seeded team in the group, I don't understand why we have four games in 16 days while Ireland play theirs in 21," he complained.
As a consequence of the quick turnaround, Loffreda has made a massive 14 changes for Tuesday's encounter with Namibia in Gosford, with Leeds winger Diego Albanese the only player to keep his starting spot.
After edging through their two-legged qualification play-off with Tunisia on tries scored, Namibia are not expected to cause Argentina too many problems. However, they will seal a place in the history books when fly-half Rudi van Vuuren takes the field.
The 31-year-old will complete the unique feat of appearing in two World Cups in the same year following his five-wicket haul against England in the cricket version of the event.
Elsewhere, France presented a relaxed front the day after demolishing Fiji 61-18 in their opener at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
The squad had no injury concerns in stark contrast the problems for rivals Australia and New Zealand after their first matches.
Winger Aurelian Rougerie suffered a slight knock to his left knee and flanker Serge Betsen had two stitches in a cut eyebrow, while Olivier Magne was cleared of any serious injury after having precautionary X-rays on his jaw.
"It's good to know (the confidence) is there," said coach Bernard Laporte, while Maso was equally upbeat.
"It would have been very frustrating not to play well with all the work (we had done)," said Maso.
The comprehensive win and, in particular, the fluidity of the backline despite fielding an untried centre partnership in Tony Marsh and Yannick Jauzion, means the French can contemplate their next match against Japan in Townsville on October 18 with some confidence.
In the South Afridcan camp, Joost van der Westhuizen believes that the Springboks' 1999 quarter-final victory over England has no relevance to their latest World Cup showdown.
The Springboks will go into next Saturday's pivotal Pool C encounter at Subiaco Oval after thrashing Uruguay in record-breaking fashion.
Attention in the Springboks' camp has already switched to England, but van der Westhuizen says there is nothing they can take out of their thumping 44-21 triumph four years ago when fly-half Jannie De Beer dropped a world record five goals.
"Since 1999, the game of rugby has changed a lot," he said.
"Defensive and attacking structures now make it a totally different game."
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