Woodward's men ready to take the opportunity of a lifetime

It could easily have been even more difficult. England's 11th attempt to beat the Wallabies on Australian soil might have been scheduled for the great union strongholds of Sydney or Brisbane, rather than here in the middle of Victoria, rugby's version of the Gibson Desert. The home team might have been at full strength, but George Smith, the world's most destructive flanker, in the back row, and Steve Larkham, subtle sporting sophistication in human form, at outside-half, are both absent. But to hell with it. If Clive Woodward's tourists win today, they will have earned their place in history.

Forty years ago to the month, Mike Weston of Durham City - Durham who? - led the likes of Budge Rogers and Phil Horrocks-Taylor against John Thornett's Wallabies and, in a sea of mud and slime at the Sydney Sports Ground, conceded 18 first-half points before losing out by the odd try in seven. Since then, the Wallabies have given the red rose army the secateur treatment at every turn. The Pullins and Cottons, the Beaumonts and Uttleys, the Underwoods and Guscotts and Carlings - all of them attempted to break the sequence, and all of them failed.

Logic suggests that today could, and should, be pay-back day. The Wallabies are missing front-line players in every department except the tight five: two of their leading stand-offs are injured and a third has been suspended; World Cup winners of the stature of Owen Finegan and Matthew Burke are still working their way back to full fitness; the midfield, shorn of Daniel Herbert and Stirling Mortlock, is as green as the grass on the banks of the River Yarra. If England, 12 international matches into a winning streak of unprecedented proportions and energised by last weekend's victory over New Zealand, cannot press the right buttons under these circumstances...

Which might explain why Clive Woodward was unusually cranky yesterday. The England coach brusquely rejected invitations to assess what a first victory in these parts might mean for rugby back home - "I can't and won't predict the future," he snapped - and refused to discuss the contrasts in style and philosophy that have been the talk of the town all week. "Unless the International Rugby Board have changed the scoring system without telling anyone, you don't get points for style," he said, unhelpfully. "It's about winning. We play to win, because that is what we're paid to do."

Woodward lived, played and coached in Australia for five years, during which time he arrived at many of the conclusions that have helped transform English rugby, to the extent that the national team are now considered favourites for this autumn's World Cup. Yet he would not give the Wallaby nation his unreserved endorsement yesterday. "It's not rocket science, what they do here," he said. "The Australians do not have sporting success in their genes. They take their sport extremely seriously and they leave nothing to chance. That's it. I respect them, of course. Have I tried to emulate them? I hope I've tried to do things in my own way."

England certainly hope they will be allowed to do things their way in this final match of a tough, occasionally torrid season. The Wallabies have been stirring the pot all week, damning the tourists with faint praise while tacitly accusing them of employing illegal ball-killing tactics at the breakdown. For his part, Woodward has remained resolutely unapologetic. "We've had our meeting with David McHugh, the referee, and we intend to compete at every scrum and line-out, every restart and at every contact area," he insisted. "What we do is perfectly legal - officials actually enjoy refereeing us because we have an exemplary record in terms of discipline - and I'm confident this match will be run properly."

While Woodward might have included the word "almost" in his celebration of England's blameless habits - after all, Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio paid simultaneous visits to the sin-bin in Wellington a week ago for doing precisely those things that most concern the Wallabies - the coach was justified in his reluctance to take lessons on the subject from the reigning world champions. Phil Waugh, the New South Wales flanker promoted from the bench to fill the gap left by the injured Smith, kills opposition ball for a pastime and generally gets away with it. Woodward's assistant, Andy Robinson, has spent every waking hour working out ways of combating Waugh's muscular brand of close-quarter chicanery.

Australia will probably score tries today: they usually do against the "old country". The last three Tests between the countries, all of them in London, went England's way, yet the try-count was 6-3 in favour of the Wallabies. Even with Nathan Grey filling in as an emergency outside-half - a non-kicking one, significantly - and the Steve Kefu-Morgan Turinui centre partnership struggling to find its rhythm and momentum, it is hard to imagine the likes of George Gregan, Joe Roff and Chris Latham drawing a blank. It is also difficult to envisage a highly motivated and cleverly organised forward pack allowing Martin Johnson and company the freedom of Melbourne.

But the Wallabies do not have a reliable goal-kicker - certainly no one in Jonny Wilkinson's league - and it is not they who have the chance to create rugby history. "We're here at full strength and we're not hiding," Woodward said. "The players know what they're playing for, what is at stake here. They are completely tuned in, completely focused." For the first time in living memory, England actually expect to win a Test in the land of the green-and-gold. It is the opportunity of a lifetime. Of several lifetimes.