Farrell on alert despite gaping holes in Wallaby team sheet

Coach may look at ease but he knows his XV need to be in physical and mental control for tomorrow's first Test

- Robert Kitson

Sometimes the best place to gauge the mindset of a head coach before a big game is not the training pitch or the press conference room but the pub across the road. Which is where Andy Farrell and his wife, Colleen, were enjoying a relaxing post-team selection drink by an open window when a few of us happened to wander past en route back from dinner.

There may be a huge contest looming but, the closer it draws, the more at ease Farrell is beginning to look. While the competitor in him loves the approaching whiff of cordite he is not a man who believes in sitting and fretting in his room before major contests. He likes to be out and about, getting a sense of the local mood and helping to fill the quiet before the storm.

Which is how it came to pass, strolling through Brisbane yesterday, that he bumped into a noted former rugby league opponent Gorden Tallis, nicknamed "Raging Bull" in his playing days for his aggressive approach. The pair had a lengthy chat, during the course of which the conversation turned to the psychology around the thunderous State of Origin games of a quarter of a century ago.