And we have not even started on the forwards

And we have not even started on the forwards.There was scarcely a glimmer of light on these issues from Robinson, who will not reveal his hand until Wednesday in the hope that the Wallabies, secreted away in their training camp on the Queensland coast, will be the first to declare themselves. For instance, there are three candidates for the full-back position alone in Iain Balshaw, Mark van Gisbergen and Tom Voyce. Jamie Noon, a regular at outside centre over the last year or so, faces a strong challenge from his colleague at Newcastle, Mathew Tait; Olly Barkley, equally capable in two roles, may or may not be picked as a stopgap No 10, depending on whether the selectors want to launch him on a long-term career at inside centre; and there are three scrum-halves, wildly different in all but their common inexperience at Test level. Any hard information would be priceless.Robinson and his fellow coaches have awkward decisions ahead of them. As things stand, the home side do not have the foggiest idea whom they will face, in what positions, for the very good reason that this unfamiliar England team – no Martin Corry or Lawrence Dallaglio, no Mark Cueto or Josh Lewsey, no Steve Thompson or Danny Grewcock – is impossible to second guess. “We thought we had the place completely blacked out, but we were wrong,” confessed Robinson, then second in command.If England’s lack of trust in all things Wallaby is a direct legacy of the Woodward era, Robinson, in charge of an international side in Australia for the first time, is in no mood to press for a thaw in relations, even though his opponents have a new back-room team, two-thirds of which come direct from the red rose coach’s beloved Bath Maybe he has a point. (Henry banned the media from attending, but clean forgot about Joe Public).

In World Cup final week two and a half years later, Woodward arranged for England to train in something approaching top secret, only to find his team being filmed from a collection of houses overlooking the ground. In this very city five years ago, the coach of the British and Irish Lions, Graham Henry, contrived to stage an important run-out on the Manly Oval, in full view of 3,000 locals. I’ve told the players to be aware, to keep their doors locked and avoid leaving things laying about.”
Most international teams opt for “closed” training sessions these days, but there are ways and means of going about it. “I dare say they’ll be around,” said England’s head coach when asked if he expected the men in trenchcoats and false moustaches to find their way into whatever greenery surrounds the visitors’ training ground ahead of this weekend’s opening Test against the Wallabies at the Olympic Stadium “Security is hugely important. While Andy Robinson is nowhere near as obsessed with these matters as his illustrious forerunner, Sir Clive Woodward, there were a few frazzled nerve-endings on display here yesterday. It is not obvious why anyone should want to spy on England’s training sessions, unless to provide indisputable evidence that the world champions really are as fragile as they have appeared over the past four months, yet the old notion of sporting espionage still rankles when a white-shirted touring side materialises in these parts.

Substitutes used: Danny Williams, Mills, Weisner, Worrincy.Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).. Substitutes used: O’Neill, Millard, Lauitiiti, Poching.Harlequins: McLinden; Bradley-Qalilawa, Luisi, Purdham, T Smith; Paul, Dorn; Tookey, Randall, Lolohea, Haumono, Hopkins, Mbu. Six minutes later Burrow’s elusive crossfield run set up Williams who evaded Nick Bradley-Qalilawa’s challenge for a try again converted by Sinfield.Leeds: L Smith; Donald, Walker, Senior, Danny Williams; McGuire, Burrow; Jones-Buchanan, Diskin, Scruton, Peacock, Ellis, Sinfield. Assistant coach Brian McDermott took control in Smith’s absence.Harlequins created the best chances to break the deadlock, Solomon Haumono being held up over the home line in a massed tackle while Henry Paul, after following up his own clever chip kick, was just unable to grab the ball by the posts.Leeds finally broke a tense deadlock after 32 minutes, with Willie Poching collecting Kevin Sinfield’s pass and barging through Paul’s tackle and past the covering Mark McLinden for the opening try.

Leeds initially made heavy weather of the tie and their hospitalised coach Tony Smith, watching on television while recovering from a gastric illness, could hardly have felt much better as his side struggled for fluency. The teenaged winger Danny Williams and Donald added further tries with Leeds now firmly in control.Though Pat Weisner and Tyrone Smith pulled back tries for Harlequins, Williams completed his hat-trick in the last minute, with an opportunist score from Rob Burrow’s long raking kick. His one-handed pass enabled Chev Walker to put Scott Donald over before he combined with Donald to send Danny McGuire cutting inside. Holding a tenuous 12-10 lead and with the visitors in the ascendancy after quick-fire tries by Luke Dorn and Michael Worrincy just after half-time, Leeds suddenly came to life with a decisive four-try scoring burst in the space of 10 minutes.
Lauitiiti’s offloading skills twice unlocked the Harlequins defence in the three decisive minutes that turned the tie. Leeds reached their 12th Challenge Cup semi-final in the past 14 years, overcoming a determined challenge from Harlequins with a compelling second half performance inspired by the introduction off the bench of the giant Kiwi forward, Ali Lauitiiti. The winger, Byron Smith, was a major contributor as Rovers built up a 40-26 lead, and though Warrington narrowed the gap with tries from Henry Fa’afili and Michael Sullivan, the Robins hung on for a famous victory.. Substitutes used: Brocklehurst, Charles, Haggerty, Myler.Referee: A Klein (Keighley).* Hull Kingston Rovers became the first National League club for 10 years to reach the Challenge Cup semi-finals yesterday, beating Warrington 40-36 in the most thrilling of ties at Craven Park.

Substitutes used: Crabtree, Snitch, Smith, McDonald.Salford: Fitzpatrick; Hodgson, Moule, Littler, Langi; Dunemann, Robinson; Rutgerson, Alker, Highton, Coley, Sibbit, Finnigan. Simon Finnigan’s pass gave Hodgson the chance to show his pace for his second try, but the willingness to buy dummies found them out again, with Drew this time exploiting the gap.Nero’s crunching tackle on Andrew Dunemann won the possession from which Paul March scored a well-deserved try, but the Giants saved the best for last.The irrepressible Paul started it by sending Wayne McDonald through, positioning himself for the return pass and presenting March with a second.Huddersfield: Reilly; Aspinwall, Wild, De Vere, Donlan; March, Paul; Mason, Drew, Jackson, Nero, Raleigh, Jones. “This was right up there with his best performances when you look at the influence he had on the tries.”Salford took the lead against the run of play through Aaron Moule, but had little else to celebrate for the rest of the afternoon, Paul selling the first of a series of outrageous dummies for Chris Nero to equalise.Paul tricked his own way over for a lead Huddersfield were never to lose, although David Hodgson, the one Salford player to emerge with much credit, wrestled his way in to narrow the gap to two points.It was in the three minutes before half-time that Salford completely lost the plot, conceding tries to Martin Aspinwall, on the end of a sweeping move, and Paul, from Brad Drew’s kick.There was no way back for a weary-looking Salford after the break, with another extravagant dummy from Paul giving Nero his second. Paul, the first player to score a hat-trick at Wembley, touched down twice and set up three more as Huddersfield outplayed Salford in every facet of the game yesterday.
“Robbie’s been fantastic – a great signing for us on and off the field,” said coach Jon Sharp of the veteran of five finals with Bradford.