Wallabies breath life back into lineout
Wallabies stalwart Nathan Sharpe says some fine tuning should have Australia's lineout back on track for Saturday's clash with the All Blacks at ANZ Stadium.
Coach Robbie Deans targeted the lineout and discipline as the two problem areas for his team in their last start loss to the world champion Springboks in Cape Town.
Australia lost nine of their own lineout throws against the formidable Bok unit, but veteran jumper Sharpe said nothing drastic was needed to fix it.
"I think the lineout is an area that we've been strong in the past and there's no point in getting over anxious about a poor performance," Sharpe said.
"Several things went wrong in that game on top of each other and unfortunately affected the result of the game or had a bearing on that.
"There hasn't been a major overhaul. The way we've been doing things has been working and we've just got to make sure little things are firing for us this weekend.
"Getting the calls from the back of the lineout to the hooker... the timing of the jumpers and the throw and all those sorts of little things - we've had a look at."
New Zealand also struggled in the lineouts against South Africa and Sharpe was confident Australia could repeat its good showing against the All Blacks in that area from their opening Tri-Nations loss in Auckland.
The Wallabies had three men sin-binned in Cape Town and Deans subsequently warned the selectors would look at dropping players for ill-disciplined play.
"It (discipline) is something we've addressed as a team and had a look at," Sharpe said.
"You can't keep giving away penalties that lead to three points, all that does is provide an easy get-out for the opposition, all they have to do is get in your half and you give them the three points.
"It is an area that we need to be tighter across the board and I think unfortunately it has probably taken us a little bit too long to get on top of that and hopefully this weekend it won't be an issue for us."
Sharpe said he didn't think it was an issue of the Wallabies not trusting each other enough in defence.
"Our defence has been very good this year, I think it's guys just probably getting a little bit keen to make a play that can help the team.
"It's a little bit about maybe stepping back a little bit and making sure that no infringements are given away because there's no more half arms (free kicks).
Winger Drew Mitchell said he didn't think Australia had lost any confidence from being beaten in their first two Tri-Nations matches and that the key thing for the team was self-belief.
Five-eighth Matt Giteau said he expected New Zealand's backs to mix things up, alternating a kick-and-chase game with a desire to spread the ball wide.
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