Stephen Moore: a Potential Weakness

Stephen Moore has been included in the Australia team to play England this weekend, the only change from the side that beat Wales.

Take a look at the Allblack tries in Hong Kong a couple of weeks back (highlights here). Their First try is eventually scored by Cowan because Moore is too slow to get up (this is a little harsh, I know, but he is far more at fault for the next two). The second try happens when Keiran Read gets outside him, and the third comes from a straight mismatch between Moore and Nonu.

None of the scores were entirely Moores fault, I'm not arguing that, but this evidence suggest that naming him in the Australia XV will create mismatches for England at the weekend. His inclusion is understandable as he does improve the struggling Aussie scrum (He can't exactly make it much worse), but in a team that tries to stretch the game as much as possible Moore's lack of mobility becomes a bigger issue.

England are probably the wrong team to expose it, but Moore's mobility is a problem. With the inclusion of the more mobile Dylan Hartley at Hooker, perhaps England won't just have an edge at scrum time.