Tuesday 29 September 2015 12:28, UK
Former Australia captain James Horwill says England skipper Chris Robshaw made the right decision to go for the win against Wales.
With England three points down in the dying minutes of Saturday's World Cup showdown at Twickenham, the hosts won a penalty wide on the right. Robshaw chose to kick for touch - and from the resulting line-out go for a match-winning try - rather than ask Owen Farrell to attempt to kick for goal and take the draw.
But England threw short at the line-out, and as they attempted to gather themselves for a driving maul, were promptly bulldozed into touch by the Welsh pack, who won the line-out - and shortly after, the game.
Farrell had not missed a kick all night, and Robshaw was widely criticised in the aftermath of the damaging 28-25 defeat which leaves England realistically needing to beat Australia this Saturday to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
But Horwill - who will be a team-mate of Robshaw's at Harlequins this season - insists the England captain was right to go for the victory.
"I probably would have made the same decision. I think he made the right call at the right time," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"His line-out call probably didn't help him, throwing to the front. But you want to go and win the game. You are not going out there to draw.
"He probably felt there needed to be a swing of momentum. The maul that England have is a really potent weapon for them. I thought it was the right call but I think you have to give credit to Wales too."
Five days before the clash between England and Australia, the Wallabies have lost two forwards for the rest of the tournament - lock Will Skelton and back-row Wycliff Palu.
Horwill insists that the Aussies can absorb the losses.
"The two guys are big ball carriers but if you look at the way they are picking their No 1 side, neither of them were in it," he said. "You've got Michael Hooper and David Pocock as the two [main] back-rowers with Scott Fardy there.
"It's certainly going to be disappointing for those guys and they are big impact players for the Wallabies but they are certainly able to be covered."
Horwill says that Australia will not be caught up in the history of Saturday's crunch clash with England, or the opportunity to put their old rivals out of the tournament. The Wallabies, he insists, will be focused purely on chalking up another win.
"Our end goal is to win the World Cup. This is another step for us along that journey," he said. "I don't think they will be thinking 'we can knock England out.' For the fans it might be enjoyable, for the Aussies that live over here in London. We do have a great sporting rivalry between the two countries. But for the team, that won't be coming into their thought process.
"Both teams have to rely on the strengths. England's is the set-piece so I think they will rely on that. [But] our set-piece has certainly been improving and that's been a real talking point over the last couple of games. We have put a lot of work in as a country into our scrummaging. It's showing on the pitch."
The omission of Horwill was perhaps the biggest surprise in coach Michael Cheika's squad.
And the second row said: "I don't know about shocked - I was disappointed I didn't make the squad. I had a good number of conversations with Michael after it. He explained to me his decision, and I understand that and I respect that. That's just the reality of rugby. There are people you have to leave out - you can only bring 31 guys.
"He likes to play two types of lock - a big ball-carrying lock and more of a line-out orientated forward. I think the fact that a guy like Dean Mumm can cover No 6 and second row was one of the reasons I didn't get in."
