The Aussie who fills Wilkinson with dread

He's everywhere. He forages, thieves and certainly hits - hair-flying - at 100mph.

His motto is "create havoc on the paddock" and he does. Brian O'Driscoll, absurdly, had to grab his dreadlocks to stop him.

Marshall never saw them coming at all and is, as a result, still nursing damaged rib cartilages and a major grudge.

This is what Australia has come to expect from its best player. Smith is 23 but looks older. He runs like a spring chicken but plays like a gnarled veteran.

Toutai Kefu, his old old teammate, jokes: "He looks like a chubby little bloke with an easy smile but out there he's unbelievable, one of the toughest blokes around."

From the start of the tournament he's been the Wallabies' outstanding player. There was a great moment in the Ireland game with countless green shirts were swarming over the ball in attack close to the Wallabies line yet somehow Smith suddenly appeared from the pile-up with his oval trophy.

What was new? From the very start of his career, he's been special. If the Lions in England's party need to be reminded of the menace, they only have to recall the third and deciding Test here two years ago when, to celebrate his 21st birthday, Smith produced a man-of-the-match effort to help steal the series.

Already, he looked freakishly good. Born just down the road from where the England team are now staying in Manly, Smith, whose mum is Tongan and father Australian, was one of a family of eight kids who were heavily into rugby league - but, luckily for the Wallabies, he was snapped up by the local Union club where Clive Woodward used to play.

By 20, he was already being hailed as "Bradman in dreadlocks" by former Australian Test coach Dave Brockhoff. "That vision of his is uncanny. Just as Bradman seemed to know where every ball would be pitched, Smith knows where every breakdown is likely to occur," raved Brockhoff.

Not just that but he has the speed to get there first and the predatory nature to instantly isolate his prey and turn over the ball.

Yet just when he was proving himself just about the best openside flanker in the game, Wallabies' coach Eddie Jones decided to turn him into a blindside.

This seemed like a complete waste to many observers here; now, though, it's beginning to look a masterstroke and a measure of Smith's staggering versatility as a footballer.

When a nerve injury sustained during the Ireland game in Perth forced Smith to miss three Tests, it allowed his rival and good friend Phil Waugh - now there's a surname to alarm any Englishman - to secure the openside job.

Smith was then asked to learn the number six's role and, after a few teething troubles, has adapted so quickly and effectively that Australia can now unleash two of the most effective and energetic wing forwards in tandem.

Waugh was even better than Smith last Saturday and if England's pack cannot squeeze the life out of them, they could harry Wilkinson to distraction.

"George Smith was always going to be our Richard Hill, capable of being world-class at 6,7 and one day 8," said Wallabies' coach Eddie Jones this week. There at least is a comfort because at least we still have the original.

Australia, though, fancies it will be the day of the Jackal, a younger, quicker model who's just a bit more hirsute than Hilly.