Absolutley right, the small things are key, No doubt the PTB will increase in speed to. This area is where they get their roll on and have done for many a year. SOO also highlights this.

We must control the Ruck and our Kicking game needs to be top drawer.
Just booming it down the field with their back three is asking for trouble. Mix it up keep them guessing.

Trying to Steam roller the likes of Gallen and Hindmarsh wont happen wear their ball players out, make then work hard in defence.

If it gets nasty because they dont like it and their teddy gets thrown - so be it.

I don't subscribe to your view that the packs are even!

I do concede that on a number of occasions in recent history we have had a better pack than Australia yet somehow on the day we have conspired to underperform in this area.

If we come out disciplined yet fired up and play to our potential in the forwards we should put Australia's forwards under pressure. As the old saying goes you cannot play behind a beaten pack as good as Darren Lockyer and Johnathan Thurston if they are playing from poor field position they will not be able to use their world-class three-quarter line to the best of its ability.

The second part of our plan has to be a massively improved kick chase game. We cannot allow Australia to build an attacking set from 35m. We need to have a game plan which forces Australia's back three into one of the two corners, Forget kicking down the middle this only creates options for Slater, Hayne & Morris.

I'm not underestimating the size of the task or the ability of Australia, I'm just puting the case for a tactic which can see England play to their strengths and a game plan which could win the game.

Control the ball. Don't turn it over in your own half through silly errors.

Kick well, find the floor. A kick that lands 10 metres short of Slater and forces him to go collect it is worth more than one which goes 10 metres deeper but straight down his throat. Don't be afraid to vary the attacking kicks.

Don't give cheap penalties away. It's hard enough to win the field position battle without giving away metres through indiscipline.

England did all three of those in the second half at Wigan and for large parts of the game against the Kiwis. The challenge now is to repeat it under even greater pressure.

This is something that has amused me watching England and SL over the past few years that I have been here. The inability to defend the second man play, and rarely seeing it executed on the field.

Its something that good Junior teams in Aus can execute and defend against at a reasonable level at 14. Just a small thing, that makes a huge difference in the score lines between the two teams and competitions.

Just watch how easily the aussies win the collision on saturday. Just watch how easily they mark the yards up the middle. Every international game I hear the idiots claiming our pack can match theirs. No it cant. Its not just the backs where the aussies are light years ahead.

If you swapped outside backs between the teams, England would win comfortably on Saturday I reckon.

Funny, didn't notice them making stacks of easy yards up the middle against the Kiwis. Or for that matter against England first time around. Their successes came primarily on the fringes and by getting the ball away from the forwards and into the hands of their playmakers.

Personnally I would kick the ball dead in goal (depending on our field position) to try and nulify their kick returns. And as Gilder said earlier we need to vary our kicking game when we get close to their line. But the first priority must be completing our sets, turn overs we're the difference over the 80 minutes last time.

It's a tactic i would consider also tbh. We can then get our line set and not have to deal with the broken field running off Slater, Hayne and Inglis.

Whenever we get to the last play within their 40 metres either get the ball in the air and pressurise them like we did the Kiwi's last week and the Aussies in the 2nd half or get some little chips going over the top with Eastmond and Tomkins working with Briscoe around the middle.

If we can get someone to execute Slater, Hayne, Hodges, Inglis, Lockyer and Thurston we may MAY stand a chance.

If its damp, id be tempted to bang it on the floor once or twice and make them bend - worse than in the are to tall players, apart from Slater they are all tall. Make it difficult as possible.

IF we do put it in the Air we need to utlilise the height of Shenton and Ellis with cross field Bombs towards and in the ingoal - at worst its a key field position for us and applies pressure.