By Nick Mulvenney
BRISBANE (Reuters) - Wallabies captain Stephen Moore is confident Australia are prepared for whatever aggression England might bring to Lang Park for Saturday's opening test in their three match series.
Faced with a string of questions about England coach Eddie Jones' assertion that this could turn out to be the rugby equivalent of cricket's "Bodyline" Ashes series, Moore looked unimpressed.
"Test rugby is physical, probably more so than Super Rugby, we know the importance of that, we've prepared for that and we want to make sure that part of our game is solid tomorrow," he told reporters on Friday.
"That is one part of the game, but it is an important one. Eddie's always been a great fan of cricket, which is, I guess, why he used that analogy."
The veteran of 102 tests, 24 of them against the All Blacks and 18 against the Springboks, Moore was equally confident that the promised physicality would not cause problems for French referee Romain Poite.
"He's very much his own man, and he'll ref the game the way he sees it," the 33-year-old hooker added.
In the bodyline cricket series of the 1930s, England came up with the novel tactic of bowling the ball at the Australian's bodies in order to nullify the impact of Don Bradman, still considered the greatest batsman of all time.
For Jones, 'Bodyline' means bringing something new to the table in a country where England have won just three matches against Australia from 17 attempts.
"It's a figure of speech. The whole thing is, we've got to do something different here," he explained on Thursday.
"We can't do what's been done for previous English teams, we've got to have a different mindset, a different way of how we play the game against Australia to change history.
"We've got that opportunity on Saturday night. It would be massive. It would make everyone in the world stand up and say, 'maybe England are doing something different now'."
Although he sports the nickname "Squeak", Moore's shaven head and boxer's broken nose do not lend easily to the idea of a man frequently intimidated.
If anything, Moore looked like a man relishing the prospect of a battle against the English front row, in particular his opposite number in more ways than one, England skipper and hooker Dylan Hartley.
"He's a good competitor, he's led that team well through the Six Nations and he'll be wanting to lead them well on this tour," Moore said.
"It's going to be a good contest and always looking forward to playing a tough England forward pack."