England 26 Australia 16: Nothing so far has withstood the black juggernaut thundering through Ireland and Britain but New Zealand will collide with a much sterner force of nature this weekend.
No Wallabies frontrow has ever been splattered across the windshield to such gruesome effect and England, if nothing else, have unearthed a weapon capable of stopping even the world's best in their tracks.
The first thing to say about Andrew Sheridan's contribution to a power-laden home win was that, thankfully, no one was paralysed. Scans on the Australian prop Matt Dunning revealed no serious neck injury, although the damage to the psyche of Sheridan's other hapless stooge Al Baxter may prove permanent.
A possible consequence is the 26-year-old Sale prop, along with his fellow giants in the English pack, will force the International Rugby Board to tweak the laws of the game. When Dunning went down in a worrying heap within a minute of Baxter being sin-binned for yet again failing to stay upright, it left the French referee Joel Jutge no option but to order uncontested scrums at a time when Australia were being corkscrewed into oblivion.
At a stroke England's strength effectively became a weakness and, without a 75th-minute try from Mark Cueto, they might conceivably have lost. No wonder England head coach Andy Robinson is suggesting the IRB undertakes an urgent review of the rules governing frontrow replacements. "Let's have a proper discussion about it. We must never take away the value of the scrum."
No one wants an integral part of the sport undermined, as even Eddie Jones acknowledged in the wake of his side's seventh successive Test defeat. "The guys we've got are the best in Australia at the moment," he sighed, "if you know someone I don't know, I'm very happy to be introduced to them."
The worst-case scenario is that Jones' phone stays silent because, ultimately, the entire rugby world will be compromised. What price the integrity of a sport in which young men risk having their necks snapped like sticks of celery just so their opponents can win fairly and squarely? If Australia, among the world's elite, cannot summon up two props of sufficient ability - they lost another young prop, Ben Darwin, to a career-ending neck injury during the 2003 World Cup - where does that leave the game's minnows?
Given this was Sheridan's first start for his country - against Baxter's 29th - and he has only played prop for three years, it was even more impressive. How ironic, having told everyone how England need to expand their game to retain the World Cup, if Robinson ends up with an identikit version of the 2003 side who kept it tight better than anyone else. There was certainly little in England's midfield play to get excited about; on other days far more cutting edge will be required.
Robinson had a mild swipe at "doomsayers attacking us for winning games" but there is no question England's backline fluency remains inferior to their major rivals'.
In that regard the recovery of Charlie Hodgson, who had a fine all-round game before limping off, will be monitored anxiously over the next 48 hours. Robinson must also hope his men have shed the rust evident at times on Saturday. Only when Australia were down to 14 men, with George Gregan binned for obstruction, did England finally slip ahead with Ben Cohen's 27th-minute try and, despite bucketloads of possession, they never pulled away.
At times their forward dominance bordered on the farcical; Corry messed up one potential pushover simply because the Wallabies scrum was careering backwards too fast. Against all odds the promising Drew Mitchell was driven over and Mat Rogers converted to level the scores at 16-16 with 25 minutes to go. In the end Harry Houdini was not clad in green and gold but the Wallabies, not least the bloodied Chris Latham, displayed considerable guts; barely five minutes remained when Cueto, following 17 phases, applied the killer blow with Baxter in the bin and Matt Giteau hobbling badly.
Australia's task now is renew the search for young iron men with forearms and shoulders broad enough to cope with the likes of Sheridan. England, for their part, will seek to exert the same degree of pressure on the All Blacks. "If we want to get any form of grip next week we really have to take them on up front," said Robinson.
ENGLAND: Lewsey; Cueto, Noon, Tindall, Cohen; Hodgson, Dawson; Sheridan, Thompson, Vickery, Borthwick, Grewcock, Sanderson, Moody, Corry (capt). Replacements: O Barkley for Hodgson (57 mins);
AUSTRALIA: Latham; Gerrard, Tuqiri, Turinui, Mitchell; Rogers, Gregan; Dunning, Cannon, Baxter, Sharpe, McMeniman, Roe, Waugh, Smith. Replacements: Chisholm for McMenamin (64 mins); Whitaker for Gregan (65 mins); Holmes for Roe (69 mins); Giteau for Gerrard, Polata-Nau for Dunning (both 70 mins); Johannson for Turinui (72 mins); Fava for Smith (77 mins).
Referee: J Jutge (France).
* Guardian Service
