Graphic: The battle for front-row supremacy

Amid the relentless reviews of England-Australia encounters this week, most of which have focused on England's scrummaging in the games played between the countries in 2005 and 2007, two salient points have emerged before this afternoon's 36th encounter at Twickenham.

The first is that neither Martin Johnson, the England team manager, nor Robbie Deans, the Australia head coach, have any regard for what has happened before and have spent considerable time and effort convincing their players that the past is, indeed, a different country. The second is the reference that Johnson made yesterday to Australia being “battle-hardened” for their defence of the Cook Cup.

Though he will not like it, Johnson's remark is a reminder that, in last year's World Cup, Australia went into the quarter-final with England in Marseilles after a run of less than demanding pool games and proved, as they like to say, undercooked in the 12-10 defeat. England had come through the fires of pool games against Pacific island opposition that they had to win if they were to reach the knockout phase.

A year later the personnel has changed. Of today's starting XVs, four Englishmen and six Australians survive from that hot afternoon in southern France, so the quarter-final is no great reference point.

But which of these sides now are the more battle-hardened, the England team whose players have been grappling with each other in the Guinness Premiership and the Heineken Cup, or the Australians who may have played international matches on two successive weekends but most of whom, in truth, have started only one game of rugby in the past ten weeks?

Certainly they are well rested and as well conditioned as their staff can make them, but in an energy-sapping game on soft turf, the last quarter of this afternoon's Investec Challenge match will be instructive. Whatever the odds may say, Australia go into this match as favourites because of the experience they have in every area of the park - George Smith, surely the game's next centurion, in the back row, Nathan Sharpe, Al Baxter, Matt Giteau, Stirling Mortlock, all with 50 caps and more to their credit.

Weigh this against England's home advantage (not that they have made it count in recent years) but also the step up in class that so many of their players are now taking. But if they can stay in the game for the first half, convince themselves that they have every right to be on the same pitch as the opposition, they can make their greater match fitness tell.

First they must quell Smith. The debate continues to rage whether Australia's open-side flanker is playing better than Richie McCaw, of New Zealand, but the fact remains that both are world-class operators who play on the edge of the law and whose reputation precedes them. So good do certain players become that they appear to be granted a latitude by referees denied to others - it was the same for Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and a long line before them.

England believe that Smith hits rucks and mauls from an offside position and they will be intrigued to discover whether Tom Rees, who has never played against Australia, can match him. Rees played against McCaw in New Zealand last summer and bore comparison; if the same is true this afternoon, it will be a significant step in the London Wasps flanker's development path.

This, in part, is the reason why Tom Palmer is starting today. The lock is required to hit second-phase areas to greater effect than England managed against the Pacific Islanders a week ago. “All the locks in the squad have different qualities and it's up to Martin Johnson to decide what he wants,” Palmer said. “Mine is workrate. My stats for rucks hit and tackles made are right up there, and we also have a big role in defence.”

But if this is an opportunity for Palmer, so it is for England against opposition who are also no more than halfway down the road towards a settled XV. A week ago there was no more than limited satisfaction over a five-try victory against the Islanders; victory of any kind over Australia is a prized objective, never mind cups or qualifying points for World Cup seedings. Suddenly the stakes have become much, much higher.

England: D Armitage (London Irish); P Sackey (London Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle Falcons), R Flutey (London Wasps), U Monye (Harlequins); D Cipriani (London Wasps), D Care (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (London Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, captain), T Palmer (London Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), T Rees (London Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), M Stevens (Bath), S Shaw (London Wasps), J Haskell (London Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), H Ellis (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester).

Australia: A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, R Cross, S Mortlock (captain), D Mitchell; M Giteau, L Burgess; B Robinson, S Moore, A Baxter, M Chisholm, N Sharpe, H McMeniman, G Smith, R Brown. Replacements: T Polota-Nau, M Dunning, D Mumm, W Palu, S Cordingley, Q Cooper, D Ioane.

Referee: M Jonker (South Africa).

Television: Live on Sky Sports 2 from 2pm (kick-off 2.30pm).

Playing Australia is no laughing matter

However jovial Johnson may prove in his new role — and he was positively light-hearted yesterday — he will never promise the world. There will never be any Clive Woodward moments — “judge me on the World Cup,” the former head coach said before his team’s quarter-final exit in 1999 — and he will concentrate on the here and now.

“We’ve picked what we think is our best team, we’ve trained well, we’ve had a game on which to look back, but we’ll find out tomorrow just how competitive we are,” Johnson said yesterday. “People always want to beat England, particularly at Twickenham, that’s part of our history, it brings a little more edge to games, but it’s also part of the fun.”

Johnson mentioned fun before last week’s match against the Pacific Islanders and Robbie Deans, the Australia coach, echoed him this week. “The stimulation of this job, the creativity, that’s part of the fun,” he said.

What is professional sport coming to with all this enjoyment flying around among those whose job is to keep their players’ feet firmly on the ground? “The players are aware how much higher the intensity, the tempo, will be this week,” Johnson said. “The opposition have played 11 Tests this year, four against New Zealand and three against the Springboks, they’ve been tested. This will be a sterner match than against the Pacific Islanders. Deans is one of the premier coaches in the world, we’re about to find out whether we’re ready for this.

“We’ve had to find the right balance of work, without overloading the players with information, but when you’re playing one of the big teams, they want you to be specific. What does Matt Giteau do, what does Stirling Mortlock do? As coaches you’re tempted to meddle as training tapers down towards the end of the week but on Fridays we hand over to them. Steve Borthwick’s detail has been good, his authority fantastic. It’s their time now.”