It's wailing Matilda

Er, sorry, but the Aussies are useless at playing the sporting underdog.

They're the world champions, they're at home, they've won a record 11 straight World Cup games, they've conceded fewer points and tries than any other team in the tournament.

"No one expected us to get to the semis," protested Wallabies coach Eddie Jones this week, in the tournament's most ludicrous statement.

No wonder Reuben Thorne, the All Blacks' captain, shrugged wearily that "anyone who writes off Australia is a fool", especially when, like the rest of us, he doubtless can't recall the last time he saw an Aussie team with an inferiority complex.

"New Zealand is a funny place," Thorne suggested. "Some supporters will come up to you and say, 'Good luck', but most of them will come up to you and say, 'Don't let us down', and that's quite a big difference."

Yes, the difference between cheerleading and a veiled threat.

Yet Australia is even funnier. It's not just the media and former Wallabies who have aimed a non-stop barrage at Jones - supposedly, the little fella is clueless, doesn't know his team nor the style in which he wants them to play and is presiding over an unhappy, divided camp - but even Jones's boss, Australia Rugby Union chief John O'Neill, waded in to warn that the Wallabies had better deliver on their multi-million-dollar investment.

His threat was so unnecessary and its timing, mid-tournament, so crass that should the Wallabies lose O'Neill should be safe in the knowledge that he did his bit to help sink them.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan hasn't been alone in being amazed by the "incredible negative reactions" to the Wallaby victories.

"The phenomenal pressure on the players is working against them," he said. "They are being strangled by everyone's expectations."

Yet this week Jones himself reckoned he could feel the stranglehold being relaxed. The mood has changed.

Aussies who achieved against the odds - remember daft speed skater Steve Bradbury, who won Olympic gold when everyone else fell over - have joined a "Never Say Die" campaign to back the Wallabies. Strewth . . . even David Campese has apologised for having a go at captain George Gregan.

It truly is hard to find anyone - apart, that is, from Clive Woodward - who will admit to fancying Australia to become the first team to reach two successive finals.

Few Aussies can bring themselves to believe that Wendell Sailor's defence won't be shredded by Joe Rokocoko.

Or that the wizardly Carlos Spencer is as vulnerable as Jones has made out.

Or that a Wallabies team who have been undeniably ragged can cope with the remarkable staying power of an outfit who, in the last 25 minutes of their games, have not conceded a single point but scored a total of 127.

Yet Jones, who's adept at getting under anyone's skin but might have trouble with the All Blacks' maddeningly faceless John "Robocoach" Mitchell in his Melbourne bunker, keeps nagging away at the New Zealand psyche.

He says he's identified defensive weaknesses and has a couple of surprises up his sleeve to exploit them.

It is difficult to know whether anyone believes him any more but hope springs eternal now the Aussies have emerged from their own hideaway in Coffs Harbour and sniffed the growing sense of anticipation as Sydney puts on its showy Olympic best again.

It was left to former Wallabies forward Sam Scott-Young to offer the most practical advice.

"I'd tell the forwards not to let him go if they get hold of that snooty little guy with the tattoos," he said, musing how to stop Spencer.

"Niggle him, smash him in defence, mess up his hair and he'll get cranky. Then, watch his game deteriorate."

And watch Australia dance.

It isn't the Poms doing the whingeing this time

"It's looking black, Wallabies . . . all black." - Herald Sun headline on Monday

"Buy a prayer mat for the coach and a gold Rolex for the referee, presented before the game." - Bruce Wilson, journalist, on how to beat the All Blacks

"Their execution let them down on Saturday. Their line-out and scrum let them down. They won't progress much further if they play like that again" - Australia Rugby Union chief John O'Neill after the narrow win over Ireland

"We cannot win the World Cup with the team we have and, if we don't make urgent changes, we'll simply be handing over the Webb Ellis Cup." - Bob Dwyer, Australian World Cup-winning coach before the quarter-final against Scotland

"Guys, if you don't like what you read, then don't pick up the paper. After your performance against Scotland, particularly the shambles that was the first 40 minutes, you won't get too many plaudits." - Nick Farr-Jones, Aussie World Cup-winning captain