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Brian Ashton: got it wrong
Dewi Morris believes that Brian Ashton has got it all wrong with his team selection for England's quarter-final clash with Australia.
The defending champions have taken plenty of stick for their below-par performances with Ashton bearing the brunt for his selection policy which seems to go against his own rugby ethos.
Ashton has always preached to play what is in front of you; to think on your feet and to pick players in form. But Morris told Sky Sports News that Ashton's latest selection is the very opposite of that.
"It beggars belief to be honest because again we had a little bit of momentum against Samoa and Tonga, games we won quite easily in the end," explained Morris.
"Lo and behold he's gone and picked Phil Vickery in the front row when Matt Stevens has had two phenomenal games. It was a bold decision to make Vickery captain when he was injured and it is even a bolder one now to bring him back.
"If you have to go out against the Australians, who are one of the best thinking 15s out there, go out and make them think.
"But to me this line-up says right we are just going to defend.
"England's tactics seem to be to let Johnny Wilkinson kick for goals and we are going to stop Australia playing. It is a very bold call, it could work and I have seen stranger things happen, but I don't think that it will."
Morris is also not convinced with the re-call of Andy Farrell, who he says lacks the pace to cause the Australians any real problems.
"We have said many times that Farrell is unbelievable at Rugby League," added Morris.
"But he has come to rugby union, been injured a tremendous amount of the time and they are two different types of games.
"On the wing you don't have to learn so much. But in the centre, in the crucial area, it is one of the hardest roles in the game. He just has not done it for me personally.
"My biggest problem with Farrell is his speed. He has just not got that electricity that you will see from Matt Giteau playing in Farrell's position for Australia."
England's tactics seem to revolve around a massive pack that will hopefully batter the Australians the same way Andrew Sheridan did in November 2005 at Twickenham.
However Morris says that it is a totally different Australian team and that tactic is just not enough.
"Connolly and Foley have gone to Australia and worked on that," explained the former England scrum-half.
"They knew it was their Achilles heel. It was Andrew Sheridan who absolutely destroyed them and he will be there this time around. But it comes back to the other two guys: Vickery and Mark Regan, who is in for George Chuter -- and you are losing some mobility there.
"The Australians have got a front five who will hold their own in the scrums and the lineouts, but the balance of their back row is phenomenal. We have not picked a back row to compete with them."
