Ella keeps the first family in business

The last thing Wales need at the Millennium Stadium next Sunday is a backlash from Australia but they had better prepare for it nonetheless.

According to Glen Ella, their backs coach, the Wallabies, for some unfathomable reason, have been underperforming, a view endorsed by the manner of their defeat to England at Twickenham last week.

"We are only playing to about 60 per cent of our ability and potential,'' Ella said. "We are nowhere near the level we are trying to get to. We are still waiting for that day. There are too many basic errors and our scrum can be a lot better. Overall, our set-piece play has been disappointing. The players know all this.''

By contrast, the only area of concern for Clive Woodward is that his team failed to kill off the Wallabies when they had them on the run. England dominated the rucks 71-44, the mauls 11-0. In open play, they enjoyed a surfeit of possession, forcing Australia to make 87 tackles to 50.

The computer analysis says that the tourists missed nine tackles, England one. Another telling statistic is that England passed the ball to the wings on 26 occasions, Australia just five and yet Woodward's men lost the try count 2-0.

In the first-half, England were in possession for 18 minutes and 17 seconds; Australia six minutes and 36 seconds.

The world champions could point out in mitigation that they had an exhausting summer, what with the visit of the Lions followed closely by the Tri-Nations, or that the itinerary for this tour – a short stop in England, a detour to Spain, back to England, a hop over to France for last night's Test and a return to Wales – was far from ideal.

That, however, is not Ella's style, although on the subject of the Lions, he admitted: "That was very hard... very, very hard. We were lucky to turn the series around in Melbourne after making a dumb start.''

The victory in the Second Test was Rod Macqueen's penultimate act as coach (his timing was calculated and impeccable), paving the way for Eddie Jones, who had made a name for himself with the ACT Brumbies. "Rod was not only the most successful coach in Australia's history, but a very astute man,'' Ella said. "We are not up to that level yet.''

After a previous spell with the Wallabies coaching staff, Ella returned as the backs coach last year, following the departure of Tim Lane to France, and he needed no introduction to Jones. "I've known him since the age of five. We went to primary and high school together in Sydney. Eddie started out as a stand-off and ended up as a very good hooker for New South Wales. His experience means he knows what's going on with the threequarters as well as the forwards. He knows exactly how he wants the Wallabies to play.''

It is a world far removed from the era of the Ellas, the aborigine boys from Botany Bay who were a sensation when they landed in Britain 23 years ago. The Australian schoolboys of 1978 were undefeated and 10 of them, including Wally Lewis, went on to become a huge figure in Australian rugby league, graduated to full international honours.

The star was Mark Ella, a stand-off with the gifts of a magician. When he teamed up with his brothers, Glen, Mark's twin who played full-back, and Gary, a centre, they gave the impression of playing with a telepathic vision and the ball was transferred from one to the other with such slight of hand that bemused defenders were often chasing shadows.

Mark returned to the United Kingdom in 1984 to mastermind the Wallabies Grand Slam tour of the home countries, after which he never played for his country again. After 25 Tests, 10 as captain, he retired at the age of 25, which was even younger than Barry John's departure from the game. "In those days, we didn't have the forwards so what ball we had we tried to run as best we could,'' Glen said.

Gordon Ella, who worked in an oil refinery, had 12 children, seven boys, five girls. "It was a very humble existence,'' Glen said. "All the boys slept in one room. One side-effect is we were always pushing each other.''

Two months ago, they were all reunited in Sydney when Mark was the subject of a Down Under version of This is Your Life. "My dad only played three games of rugby league so I think a lot of our ability was inherited from our mother,'' Glen said. One of the sisters, Marcia, played netball for Australia. Mark, Glen and Gary wore the Wallaby gold and represented New South Wales, but their first love was Randwick in Sydney, a club that produced Ken Catchpole, one of the world's best scrum-halves, and David Campese, one of the world's greatest wings.

Glen, whose Test career was limited by the presence of Roger Gould, retired from playing 10 years ago at the age of 32. He was assistant coach to Bob Dwyer with the Wallabies during the 1995 World Cup in South Africa but, when Greg Smith, Dwyer's successor, was fired in 1996, Glen went too. He took his family to England and coached Stourbridge for six months.

Aside from his duties with the Wallabies, he was technical adviser to the current Super 12 champions the Brumbies and he is also the coach to the Australian sevens team. In Sydney 20 years ago, they could have fielded a hell of a seven: Rodney Ella, Gary Ella, Mark Ella, Glen Ella; Bruce Ella, Richard Ella, Timothy Ella. By rights, they should have played for the Seven Sisters club in old South Wales.

Australia has only 90 contracted professionals from the three Super 12 outfits, New South Wales, Queensland and the Brumbies (they are pushing for a fourth, probably based in Melbourne) and Glen Ella has no access to them for the world sevens series.

"The abbreviated game is important for developing skills and we are catching up with New Zealand and Fiji,'' he said. "George Gregan, Joe Roff and Ben Tune all made their mark in sevens and playing in front of 40,000 fans in Hong Kong is a good stepping stone to international rugby.''

What the Wallabies appear to be lacking at the moment is a touch of the Ella magic, but the dynasty could be heading for a revival. Glen's 14-year-old son, Daniel – "I've been coaching him for eight years'' – plays stand-off for Sydney Under-15s, while Mark's nine-year-old son Simon is also showing signs of a rich inheritance.