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Subscribe to RSS FeedMortlock not taking England lightly
Stirling Mortlock: Rules out complacency
Australia captain Stirling Mortlock insists there is no chance the Wallabies will take struggling England lightly in tomorrow's World Cup quarter-final.
Mortlock returns to the side after recovering from a shoulder injury which kept him out of Australia's comfortable wins over Canada and Fiji.
While the Wallabies had the luxury of resting their front-line players against Canada last weekend, England were battling hard just to clinch a place in the last eight.
They were thumped 36-0 by South Africa and have been unconvincing for large parts of the victories over the USA, Samoa and Tonga.
England coach Brian Ashton has not managed to name a settled team and even was left reworking the centre combination after Andy Farrell dropped out injured on Thursday afternoon.
But Mortlock remembers 2003 and he remembers 2005. Four years ago, England travelled Down Under to beat the Wallabies twice in the space of five months en route to becoming world champions.
And then at Twickenham in 2005, prop Andrew Sheridan led a ritual destruction of the Wallabies scrum as England powered to a 26-16 win.
"There's no chance of getting complacent. Most of these England guys have been on teams that have beaten us,'' said Mortlock.
Mortlock damaged his shoulder in Australia's pivotal win over Wales in Cardiff and decided against rushing back to make sure he was fit for the quarter-finals.
The Wallabies skipper is one of nine survivors from the 2003 World Cup final named in the squad to face England on Saturday and says his team-mates enter the do-or-die clash on the back of a solid preparation.
Strong performances throughout the Pool stages will see the Wallabies enter the long-awaited quarter-final against the old enemy as overwhelming favourites.
But Mortlock, who was instrumental in the Wallabies 2003 semi-final victory over strong favourites New Zealand, knows pre-match form counts for little at the business end of rugby's biggest tournament.
"We're very happy with our preparation and extremely happy with the way we played throughout the pool matches and we've been training really well too," said Mortlock.
"But in saying that, it's sudden-death football from here on in, upsets are always the case in World Cups and it's already proven true in the pool matches."
"So we're doing everything in our power to make sure we're switched on and give England the due respect because we don't want to be on the receiving end of one of those upsets."
The Wallabies have set up camp in Marseille - the site for Saturday's vital clash - and upon arrival took advantage of some downtime to take in their new surrounds.
"On our day off it's always good to get out and get about and have a look around the town," said Mortlock.
"The mindset has always been in this team and in particular in this World Cup to really switch on to our rugby and really switch on to our preparation."
"But when you get opportunities to have a look and embrace, in particular French culture, get out there and get amongst it."
"I think it keeps you mentally fresh and makes you enjoy the time that we've got but when you get out there on the paddock switch on to what we've got to do."
