England, Australia not giving an inch over scrum

England and Australia are fighting over the scrum before they even go on the pitch for their decisive World Cup clash on Saturday.
The pressure will be on French referee Romain Poite during the game as much as the heavyweights on either side whose battle for supremacy could decide the game.
"The scrum is one of the most humbling parts of rugby -- you can do very well in one and get ripped apart in the next one if you are not on your game every single time," said Australia coach Michael Cheika on Friday.
With the stakes so high -- England were upset 28-25 by Wales and will go out in shame in the qualifying round if they lose again -- there is a war of words over how the Pool A confrontation will be refereed at Twickenham.
England forwards coach Graham Rowntree hit back Friday after former Wallaby coach Bob Dwyer accused the Red Rose brigade of deploying an illegal set-piece.
England have won their last two Tests against Australia through their dominant forwards.
But Dwyer, who guided Australia to victory over England in the 1991 World Cup final at Twickenham, has accused England loosehead prop Joe Marler of gaining an unfair advantage by angling in rather than scrummaging square.
Former England prop Rowntree, however, insisted he had had a "positive conversation" with World Rugby referees' chief Joel Jutge.
And he is backing Poite to effectively control the scrum.
"I've had a very positive conversation with Joel," Rowntree said at Twickenham.
"I speak with him quite regularly on the scrum and other things.
"It was a very positive conversation and I'm happy with what we have to do tomorrow night," added the 44-year-old.
 - Poite respect -
Rowntree was a member of the British and Irish Lions coaching staff when Poite repeatedly penalised Australia in the combined side's series-clinching over the Wallabies two years ago.
"I have a lot of respect for this guy," said Rowntree, who won 54 England caps.
"French referees in particular have such composure around the set-piece.
"He likes a scrum and referees most weeks in a league where scrummaging is paramount -- the French Top 14.
"I'm a big fan. We've had some really good days at the office as a forward pack with Romain involved."
Rowntree said Australia, who won this year's southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, had a vastly improved scrum after Wallaby coach Michael Cheika brought in former Argentina hooker Mario Ledesma to assist with the set-piece.
"Australia's tight play has really improved. I'm a big fan of what Ledesma has brought to the team."
Australia coach Cheika tried to downplay Dwyer's comments.
"We got beaten well in a fair few scrums here last year (against England), a few important scrums and the important scrums are the ones that count," Cheika said.
"We knew we had to make adjustments to our own scrum -- not by developing a new tactic or some miracle that's going to help us there but just by working hard."
Cheika added: "It really will be something we are looking to perform in consistently, be very square, do our best."
"Then it's whatever interpretations come from the referee. He (Poite) is a very experienced referee.
"He's been in this type of atmosphere many, many times and he's a very good referee."

Source: AFP