Mortlock eyeing revenge mission on England

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock says his players are desperate to avenge their extra-time loss to England in the 2003 World Cup final.

England must defeat in-form Tonga in their final Pool A match on Friday night in order to set up the showdown against the Wallabies on October 6.

But Mortlock, who will miss his side’s final Pool match with Canada on Sunday to allow his injured shoulder to recover, said preparations for the likely match against England have already begun.

“It’s been spoken about plenty of times before. A lot of guys in the squad are still itching to get one back, so to speak, after how close we came in ’03,” he said.

“So there’s a lot of incentive for us to be mentally switched on and go out and play well against England in the quarter-final.”

But Mortlock knows beating England in a World Cup is no easy feat.

“I think you saw a lot more settled performance from England last week (against Samoa),” Mortlock conceded.

“They’ve got a great set-piece and their forward pack is very dominating.

“And when they’ve got a 10 (fly-half) that controls the game as well as Jonny Wilkinson does and they’ve got some enterprising backs outside of him, so that will pose a significant challenge.”

Mortlock’s own availability for the anticipated clash is crucial, given the absence of veteran pivot Stephen Larkham until at least the semi-finals.

But the 62-Test veteran is confident he will be ready.

He said: “The mindset is that I definitely won’t play this week and I’m very confident that I’ll be right for the following week in the quarter final.

“The shoulder’s going very well. I’m progressing my rehab now, doing a lot of strength and rehab work with my arm above my shoulder, and hopefully progressing to a bit of contact later on this week.”