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Wallabies must be `Sharpe`

Nathan Sharpe: Not ready to go home just yet

A fighting-fit Nathan Sharpe believes Australia's execution of scoring chances will be the difference between his team progressing to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup or heading home after Saturday's quarter-final showdown with England.

The Western Force lock, who has recovered well from an elbow injury suffered in Saturday's 37-6 win over Canada, said that any Wallabies fan who thought the match in Marseille would be easy pickings were in for a rude shock.

Instead, Sharpe and his team-mates expect a tough contest from the current world champs who have improved as the tournament has worn on.

"They've started to build into this tournament very well and they're playing some better football at this stage of the tournament," Sharpe told Sportal.

"It's no surprise to them that we're playing them. Ever since we beat Fiji, it's been a big focus for us."

"I guess when you look at the World Cup draw, you look at possible match-ups and things and I suppose this is a game you could foresee.

"It hasn't snuck up on us and it's something all of the guys have really been looking forward to."

The key area of improvement Sharpe sees from the pool matches is the Wallabies need to make the most of their scoring chances.

"There's no secret they are going to play a very physical game against us, forward-orientated, and try and dominate that area," he said

"I think we've just got to take our opportunities really well against England. In the last couple of weeks, we've created a lot of opportunities and haven't really finished them off.

"We're not going to get that many opportunities against England and certainly refereeing and all the rest of it comes into the equation.

"But if we make the most of our opportunities and make them pay on the scoreboard, then that's going to be a good result for us."

Sharpe said that while much will be made of the Wallabies seeking revenge against England for the World Cup defeat of four years ago, the motivation from within the squad was about securing glory here and now.

"I think the pleasing thing about this quarter-final is that there is so much tradition between Australia and England," said Sharpe.

"A lot of people talk about a re-match of the World Cup final I suppose, that will be spoken about during the week.

"At the end of the week, that ledger's gone, we'll never get that back, it will be certainly nice to take England out of the World Cup.

"That's the beauty of this World Cup, either of us two teams are going to be headed home on Monday. We certainly don't want to be us."